V- 


w  ■ 


V  1  • 


■1 


(  '> 


? 


Harper's  Stereotype  Edition 


PALESTINE, 


OR  THE 

HOLY  LAND. 

FROM 

THE  EARLIEST  PERIOD  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 


BY  THE  REV.  MICHAEL  RUSSELL,  LL.D., 

Author  of  “  View  of  Ancient  and  Modern  Egypt.” 


WITH  A  MAP  AND  NINE  ENGRAVINGS. 


NEW-YORK : 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  J.  &  J.  HARPER, 

NO.  82  CUFF-STREET, 

AND  SOLD  BY  THE  PRINCIPAL  BOOKSELLERS  THROUGHOUT 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 


1832 


PREFACE. 


In  giving  an  account  of  the  Holy  Land,  an 
author,  upon  examining  his  materials,  finds  him¬ 
self  presented  with  the  choice  either  of  simple 
history  on  the  one  hand,  or  of  mere  local  descrip¬ 
tion  on  the  other ;  and  the  character  of  his  book  is 
of  course  determined  by  the  selection  which  he 
makes  of  the  first  or  the  second  of  these  depart¬ 
ments.  The  volumes  on  Palestine  hitherto  laid 
before  the  public  will  accordingly  be  found  to  con¬ 
tain  either  a  bare  abridgment  of  the  annals  of  the 
Jewish  people,  or  a  topographical  delineation  of 
the  country,  the  cities,  and  the  towns  which  they 
inhabited,  from  the  date  of  the  conquest  under 
Joshua,  down  to  the  period  of  their  dispersion  by 
Titus  and  Adrian.  Several  able  works  have  re¬ 
cently  appeared  on  each  of  these  subjects,  and 
have  been,  almost  without  exception,  rewarded  with 
the  popularity  which  is  seldom  refused  to  learning 
and  eloquence.  But  it  occurred  to  the  writer  of 
the  following  pages,  that  the  expectations  of  the 
general  reader  would  be  more  fully  answered 
were  the  two  plans  to  be  united,  and  the  constitu-  v 
tion,  the  antiquities,  the  religion,  the  literature,  and 
even  the  statistics  of  the  Hebrews  combined  with 
the  narrative  of  their  rise  and  fall  in  the  sacred  land 
bestowed  upon  their  fathers. 

A  2 


10 


PREFACE. 


In  following  out  this  scheme,  he  has  made  it  his 
study  to  leave  no  source  of  information  unexplored 
which  might  supply  the  means  of  illustrating  the 
political  condition  of  the  Twelve  Tribes  imme¬ 
diately  after  they  settled  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan. 
The  principles  which  entered  into  the  constitution 
of  their  commonwealth  are  extremely  interesting, 
both  as  they  afford  a  fine  example  of  the  progress 
of  society  in  one  of  its  earliest  stages,  when  the 
migratory  shepherd  gradually  assumes  the  habits 
of  the  agriculturist ;  and  also  as  they  confirm  the 
results  of  experience,  in  other  cases,  in  regard  to 
the  change  which  usually  follows  in  the  form  of 
civil  government,  and  in  the  concentration  of  power 
in  the  hands  of  an  individual. 

The  chapter  on  the  Literature  and  Religion  of 
the  Ancient  Hebrews  cannot  boast  of  a  great  va¬ 
riety  of  materials,  because  what  of  the  subject  is 
not  known  to  the  youngest  reader  of  the  Bible  must 
be  sought  for  in  the  writings  of  Rabbinical  authors, 
who  have  unfortunately  directed  the  largest  share 
of  their  attention  to  the  minutest  parts  of  their 
Law,  and  expended  the  labour  of  elucidation  on 
those  points  which  are  least  interesting  to  the  rest 
of  the  world.  It  is  to  be  deeply  regretted,  that  so 
little  is  known  respecting  the  Schools  of  the  Pro¬ 
phets — those  seminaries  which  sent  forth,  not  only 
the  ordinary  ministers  of  the  Temple  and  the  Syna¬ 
gogue,  but  also  that  more  distinguished  order  of 
men  who  were  employed  as  instruments  for  reveal¬ 
ing  the  future  intentions  of  Providence.  But  the 
Author  hesitates  not  to  say,  that  he  has  availed 
himself  of  all  the  materials  which  the  research  of 
modern  times  has  brought  to  light,  while  he  has 


PREFACE. 


11 


carefully  rejected  all  such  speculations  or  con¬ 
jectures  as  might  gratify  the  curiosity  of  learning 
without  tending  to  edify  the  youthful  mind.  The 
account  which  is  given  of  the  Feasts  and  Fasts  of 
the  Jews,  both  before  and  after  the  Babylonian  Cap¬ 
tivity,  will,  it  is  hoped,  prove  useful  to  the  reader, 
more  especially  by  pointing  out  to  him  appropriate 
subjects  of  reflection  while  perusing  the  Sacred 
Records. 

The  history  of  Palestine,  prior  to  the  Fall  of  Je¬ 
rusalem,  rests  upon  the  authority  of  the  inspired 
writers,  or  of  those  annalists,  such  as  Josephus 
and  Tacitus,  who  flourished  at  the  period  of  the 
events  which  they  describe.  The  narrative,  which 
brings  down  the  fortunes  of  that  remarkable  coun¬ 
try  to  the  present  day,  is  much  more  various  both 
in  its  subject  and  references  ;  more  especially  where 
it  embraces  the  exploits  of  the  Crusaders,  those 
renowned  devotees  of  religion,  romance,  and  chiv¬ 
alry.  The  reader  will  find  in  a  narrow  compass 
the  substance  of  the  extensive  works  of  Fuller, 
Wilken,  Michaud,  and  Mills.  In  the  more  modern 
part  of  this  historical  outline,  in  which  the  affairs 
of  Palestine  are  intimately  connected  with  those 
of  Egypt,  it  was  thought  unnecessary  to  repeat 
facts  mentioned  at  some  length  in  the  volume 
already  published  on  the  latter  country.* 

The  topographical  description  of  the  Holy  Land 
is  drawn  from  the  works  of  the  long  series  of  trav¬ 
ellers  and  pilgrims,  who,  since  the  time  of  the  faith¬ 
ful  Doubdan,  have  visited  the  interesting  scenes 
where  the  Christian  Faith  had  its  origin  and  com¬ 
pletion.  On  this  subject  Maundrell  is  still  a  prin- 

[*  No.  XXI1L  of  this  Family  Library.] 


12 


PREFACE. 


cipal  authority  ;  for,  while  we  have  the  best  reason 
to  believe  that  he  recorded  nothing  but  what  he 
saw,  we  can  trust  implicitly  to  the  accuracy  of  his 
details  in  describing  every  thing  which  fell  under 
his  observation.  The  same  high  character  is  due 
to  Pococke  and  Sandys,  writers  whose  simplicity 
of  style  and  thought  afford  a  voucher  for  the  truth 
of  their  narratives.  Nor  are  Thevenot,  Paul  Lucas, 
and  Careri,  though  less  frequently  consulted,  at  all 
unworthy  of  confidence  as  depositaries  of  historical 
facts.  In  more  modern  times  we  meet  with  equal 
fidelity,  recommended  by  an  exalted  tone  of  feel¬ 
ing,  in  the  volumes  of  Chateaubriand  and  Dr.  Rich¬ 
ardson.  Clarke,  Burckhardt,  Buckingham,  Legh, 
Henniker,  Jowett,  Light,  Macworth,  Irby  and  Man¬ 
gles,  Carne,  and  Wilson,  have  not  only  contributed 
valuable  materials,  but  also  lent  the  aid  of  their 
names  to  correct  or  to  confirm  the  statements  of 
some  of  the  more  apocryphal  among  their  prede¬ 
cessors. 

The  chapter  on  Natural  History  has  no  preten¬ 
sions  to  scientific  arrangement  or  technical  precision 
in  its  delineations.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  calculated 
solely  for  the  common  reader,  who  would  soon  be 
disgusted  with  the  formal  notation  of  the  botanist, 
and  could  not  understand  the  learned  terms  in 
which  the  student  of  zoology  too  often  finds  the 
knowledge  of  animal  nature  concealed.  Its  main 
object  is  to  illustrate  the  Scriptures,  by  giving  an 
account  of  the  quadrupeds,  birds,  serpents,  plants, 
and  fruits  which  are  mentioned  from  time  to  time 
by  the  inspired  workers  of  either  Testament. 

Edinburgh,  September ,  1831. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 

Interest  attached  to  the  History  of  Palestine— Remarkable  Character  of 
the  Hebrew  People — Their  small  Peginning  and  astonishing  Increase 
— The  Variety  of  Fortune  they  underwent— Their  constant  Attach¬ 
ment  to  the  Promised  Land — The  Subject  presents  ari  interesting 
Problem  to  the  Historian  and  Politician — The  Connexion  with  Chris¬ 
tianity— Effect  of  this  Religion  on  the  Progress  of  Society — Importance 
of  the  Subject  to  the  pious  Reader— Holy  Places— Pilgrims— Grounds 
for  Believing  the  Ancient  Traditions  on  this  Head— Constantine  and 
the  Empress  Helena— Relics — Natural  Scenery — Extent  of  Canaan — 
Fertility — Geographical  Distribution — Countries  Eastward  of  the  Jor¬ 
dan — Galilee — Samaria— Bethlehem — Jericho — The  Dead  Sea — Table 
representing  the  Possessions  of  the  Twelve  Tribes .  Page  17 

CHAPTER  II. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 

Form  of  Government  after  the  Death  of  Joshua — In  Egypt — In  the  Wil¬ 
derness— Princes  of  Tribes  and  Heads  ofFamilies— Impatience  to  take 
Possession  of  Promised  Land — The  Effects  of  it — Renewal  of  War — 
Extent  of  Holy  Land — Opinions  of  Fleury,  Spanheim,  Reland,  and 
Lowman — Principle  of  Distribution — Each  Tribe  confined  to  a  sepa¬ 
rate  Locality — Property  Unalienable— Conditions  ot  Tenure— Popula¬ 
tion  of  the  Tribes — Number  of  principal  Families— A  General  Govern- 
ment  or  National  Council — The  Judges — Nature  of  their  Authority — 
Not  ordinary  Magistrates — Different  from  Kings,  Consuls,  and  Dic¬ 
tators— Judicial  Establishments— Judges  and  Officers — Described  by 
Josephus— Equality  of  Condition  among  the  Hebrews— Their  Inclina¬ 
tion  for  a  Pastoral  Life— Freebooters  like  the  Arabs — Abimelech,  Jeph- 
tliah,  and  David— Simplicity  of  the  Times— Boaz  and  Ruth— Tribe  of 
Levi— Object  of  their  Separation — The  learned  Professions  hereditary, 
after  the  Manner  of  the  Egyptians — The  Levitical  Cities— Their  Num¬ 
ber  and  Uses— Opinion  of  Michaelis— Summary  View  of  the  Times  and 
Character  of  the  Hebrew  Judges .  35 

CHAPTER  III. 

HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  SAUL  TO  THE  DE¬ 
STRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

Weakness  of  Republican  Government— Jealousy  of  the  several  Tribes 
— Resolution  to  have  a  King — Rules  for  regal  Government — Character 
of  Saul — Of  David — Troubles  of  his  Reign — Accession  of  Solomon— 
Erection  of  the  Temple — Commerce — Murmurs  of  the  People — Reho 

B 


14 


CONTENTS 


boam — Division  of  the*  Tribes — Kings  of  Israel — Kingdom  of  Judah 
— Siege  of  Jerusalem— Captivity — Kings  of  Judah — Return  from 
Babylon — Second  Temple — Canon  of  Scripture — Struggles  between 
Egypt  and  Syria — Conquest  of  Palestine  by  Antiochus — Persecution 
of  Jews — Resistance  by  the  Family  of  Maccaba;us — Victories  of  Judas 
■ — He  courts  the  Alliance  of  the  Romans — Succeeded  by  Jonathan — 
Origin  of  the  Asmonean  Princes  -John  Hyrcanus— Aristobulus — 
Alexander  Jannaeus — Appeal  to  Pompey — Jerusalem  taken  by  Romans 
— Herod  created  King  by  the  Romans — He  repairs  the  Temple — Ar- 
chelaus  succeeds  him,  and  Antipas  is  nominated  to  Galilee — Quirinius 
Prefect  of  Syria — Pontius  Pilate — Elevation  of  Herod  Agrippa — Dis¬ 
grace  of  Herod  Philip— Judea  again  a  Province— Troubles—  Accession 
of  Young  Agrippa— Felix — Festus — Floris — Command  given  to  Ves¬ 
pasian — War — Siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus .  Page  60 

CHAPTER  IV. 

ON  THE  LITERATURE  AND  RELIGIOUS  USAGES  OF  THE  ANCIENT 
.  HEBREWS. 

Obscurity  of  the  Subject — Learning  issued  from  the  Levitical  Colleges — 
Schools  of  the  Prophets — Music  and  Poetry — Meaning  of  the  term 
Prophecy — Illustrated  by  References  to  the  Old  Testament  and  to  the 
New— The  Power  of  Prediction  not  confined  to  those  bred  in  the 
Schools — Race  of  False  Prophets — Their  Malignity  and  Deceit — Mi- 
caiah  and  Ahab — Charge  against  Jeremiah  the  Prophet — Criterion  to 
distinguish  True  from  False  Prophets — The  Canonical  Writings  of 
the  Prophets — Literature  of  Prophets — Sublime  Nature  of  their  Com¬ 
positions — Examples  from  Psalms  and  Prophetical  Writings— Humane 
and  liberal  Spirit — Care  used  to  keep  alive  the  Knowledge  of  the  Law 
— Evils  arising  from  the  Division  of  Israel  and  Judah — Ezra  collects 
the  Ancient  Books — Schools  of  Prophets  similar  to  Convents — Sciences 
— Astronomy — Division  of  Time,  Days,  Months,  and  Years— Sabbaths 
and  New  Moons — Jewish  Festivals — Passover — Pentecost — Feast  of 
Tabernacles — Of  Trumpets — Jubilee — Daughters  of  Zelophedad — 
Feast  of  Dedication — Minor  Anniversaries — Solemn  Character  of  He¬ 
brew  Learning — Its  easy  Adaptation  to  Christianity — Superior  to  the 
Literature  of  allother  ancient  Nations .  88 

CHAPTER  V. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

Pilgrimages  to  the  Holy  Land — Arculfus — Willibald — Bernard — Effect 
of  Crusades — William  de  Bouldesell — Bertrandon  de  la  Broquiere  — 
State  of  Damascus— Breiden bach— Baumgarten— Bartholemeo  George- 
witz — Aldersey — Sandys— Doubdan — Cheron — Thevenot— Gonzales— 
Morison — Maundrell — Pococke — Road  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem — Plain 
of  Sharon— Rama  or  Ramla— Condition  of  the  Peasantry — Vale  of 
Jeremiah — Jerusalem— Remark  of  Chateaubriand — Impressions  of 
different  Travellers — Dr.  Clarke— Tasso— Volney—IIenniker — Mosque 
of  Omar  described— Mysterious  Stone — Church  of  Holy  Sepulchre — 
Ceremonies  of  Good  Friday— Easter— The  Sacred  Fire— Grounds  for 
Skepticism — Folly  of  the  Priests — Emotion  upon  entering  the  Holy 
Tomb— Description  of  Chateaubriand— Holy  Places  in  the  City— On 
Mount  Zion— Pool  of  Siloam — Fountain  of  the  Virgin — Valley  of  Je- 
hoshaphat — Mount  of  Offence — The  Tombs  of  Zechariah,  of  Jeliosha- 


CONTENTS 


15 


phat,  and  of  Absalom— Jewish  Architecture — Dr.  Clarke’s  Opinion 
on  the  Topography  of  Ancient  Jerusalem — Opposed  by  other  Writers 
— The  Inexpediency  of  such  Discussions .  Page  113 

CHAPTER  VI. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY  SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 

Garden  of  Gethsemane — Tomb  of  Virgin  Mary — Grottoes  on  Mount  of 
Olives — View  of  the  City — Extent  and  Boundaries— View  of  Bethany 
and  Dead  Sea — Bethlehem — Convent— Church  of  the  Nativity  de¬ 
scribed— Paintings— Music — Population  of  Bethlehem — Pools  of  Solo¬ 
mon— Dwelling  of  Simon  the  Leper— Of  Mary  Magdalene — Tower  of 
Simeon— Tomb  of  Rachel— Convent  of  St.  John — Fine  Church— Tekoa 
—  Bethulia — Hebron — Sepulchre  of  Patriarchs — Albaid— Kerek — Ex¬ 
tremity  of  Dead  Sea — Discoveries  of  Bankes,  Legh,  and  Irby  and  Man¬ 
gles — Convent  of  St.  Saba— Valley  of  Jordan — Mountains— Descrip¬ 
tion  of  Lake  Asphaltites— Remains  of  ancient  Cities  in  its  Basin — Qual¬ 
ity  of  its  Waters — Apples  of  Sodom — Tacitus,  Seetzen,  Hasselquist, 
Chateaubriand— Width  of  River  Jordan — Jericho— Village  of  Rihhah 
— Balsam— Fountain  of  Elisha— Mount  of  Temptation— Place  of 
Blood — Anecdote  of  Sir  F.  Henniker — Fountain  of  the  Apostles — Re¬ 
turn  to  Jerusalem — Markets— Costume — Science — Arts — Language — 
Jew's — Present  Condition  of  that  People .  161 

CHAPTER  VII. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY  NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 

Grotto  of  Jeremiah — Sepulchres  of  the  Kings— Singular  Doors — Village 
of  Leban — Jacob’s  Well — Valley  of  Shechem—  Nablous — Samaritans 
— Sebaste  —  Jennin — Gilead  —  Geraza,  or  Djerash — Description  of 
Ruins — Gergasha  of  the  Hebrews — Rich  Scenery  of  Gilead — River 
Jabbok— Souf— Ruins  of  Gamala— Magnificent  Theatre— Gadara — 
Capernaum,  or  Talhewm— Sea  of  Galilee — Bethsaida  and  Chorazin — 
Tarachea  — Sumuk — Tiberias— Description  of  modern  Town— House 
of  St.  Peter — Baths — University — Mount  Tor,or  Tabor — Description  by 
Pococke,  Maundr^ll,  Burckhardf,  and  Doubdan — View  from  the  Top 
— Great  Plain— Nazareth— Church  of  Annunciation— Workshop  of 
Joseph— Mount  of  Precipitation — Table  of  Christ— Cana,  or  Refer 
Kenna— Waterpots  of  Stone— Saphet,  or  Szaffad— University — French 
— Sidney  Smith— Dan — Sepphoris — Church  of  St.  Anne — Description 
by  Dr.  Clarke — Vale  of  Zabulon — Vicinity  of  Acre .  200 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE  FItOM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  TO 
THE  PRESENT  TIME. 

State  of  Judea  after  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem — Revolt  under  Trajan — Barco- 
chab — Adrian  repairs  Jerusalem— Schools  at  Babylon  and  Tiberias — 
The  Attempt  of  Julian  to  rebuild  the  Temple — Invasion  of  Chosroes 
— Sack  of  Jerusalem — Rise  of  lslamism— Wars  of  the  Califs — First 
Crusade — Jerusalem  delivered — Policy  of  Crusades — Victory  at  As- 
calon— Baldwin  King — Second  Crusade — Saladin — His  Success  at 
Tiberias— He  recovers  Jerusalem— The  Third  Crusade— Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion — Siege  and  Capture  of  Acre — Plans  of  Richard — His 
Return  to  Europe— Death  of  Saladin — Fourth  Crusade— Battle  of 


16 


CONTENTS 


Jaffa— Fifth  Crusade— Fall  of  Constantinople — Sixth  Crusade— Da- 
lnietta  taken — Reverses — Frederick  the  Second  made  King  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem — Seventh  Crusade— Christians  admitted  into  the  Holy  City — in¬ 
road  of  Karismians — Eighth  Crusade  under  Louis  IX. — He  takes 
Damietta — His  Losses  and  Return  to  Europe— Ninth  Crusade— Louis 
IX.  and  Edward  I. — Death  of  Louis — Successes  of  Edward — Treaty 
with  Sultan — Final  Discomfiture  of  the  Franks  in  Palestine,  and 
Loss  of  Acre — State  of  Palestine  under  the  Turks — Increased  Tole¬ 
ration — Bonaparte  invades  Syria — Siege  of  Acre  and  Defeat  of  French 
— Actual  State  of  the  Holy  Land — Number,  Condition,  and  Character 
of  the  Jews . Page  246 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 

Travellers  too  much  neglect  Natural  History — Maundrell,  Hasselquist, 
Clarke — Geology — Syrian  Chain — Libanus — Calcareous  Rocks — 
Granite — Trap  — Volcanic  Remains  — Chalk — Marine  Exuviae— Pre¬ 
cious  Stones — Meteorology — Climate  of  Palestine — Winds — Thun¬ 
der — Clouds— Waterspouts— Ignis  Fatuus — Zoology—  Scripture  Ani¬ 
mals — The  Hart — The  Roebuck — Faliow-deer — Wild  Goat — Pygarrg 
— Wild  Ox — Chamois — Unicorn — Wild  Ass — Wild  Goats  of  the  Rock 
— Saphan,  or  Cony— Mouse— Porcupine— Jerboa — Mole — Bat — Birds 
— Eagle— Ossifrage— Ospray — Vulture  — Kite— Raven — Owl — Night- 
hawk — Cuckoo— Hawk— Little  Owl— Cormorant— Great  Owl — Swan 
— Pelican — Gier  Eagle — Stork— Heron — Lapwing — Hoopoe — Amphi¬ 
bia  and  Reptiles — Serpents  known  to  the  Hebrews — Ephe— Che- 
phir — Acshub  — Pethen  — Tzeboa  — Tzimmaon  — Tzepho  — Kippos  — 
Shephiphon — Shachal— Saraph,  the  Flying  Serpent — Cockatrice’  Eggs 
— The  Scorpion — Sea  mons  ers,  or  Seals — Fruits  and  Plants — Ve¬ 
getable  Productions  of  Palestine — The  Fig-tree— Palm — Olive— Cedars 
of  Libanus — Wild  Grapes — Balsam  of  Aaron — Thorn  of  Christ  302 


+ 

ENGRAVINGS. 


Map  of  Palestine .  To  face  the  Vignette. 


Vignette — Part  of  Jerusalem,  with  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

View  of  Jerusalem  from  the  Mount  of  Olives . Page  125 

Fountain  of  Siloam . 153 

Tomb  of  Absalom . ]56 

Village  of  Bethany,  and  Dead  Sea . 165 

Subterranean  Church  of  Bethlehem . 169 

River  Jabbok,  and  Hills  of  Bashan . 215 

Sea  of  Galilee,  Town  of  Tiberias,  and  Baths  of  Emmaus . 223 

Mount  Tabor . 229 


PALESTINE, 

OR 

ft 

THE  HOLY  LAND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory  Observations. 

Interest  attached  to  the  History  of  Palestine — Remarkable  Character  of 
the  Hebrew  People — Their  small  Beginning  and  astonishing  Increase 
•—The  Variety  of  Fortune  they  underwent — Their  constant  Attach¬ 
ment  to  the  Promised  Land — The  Subject  presents  an  interesting 
Problem  to  the  Historian  and  Politician — The  Connexion  with  Chris¬ 
tianity — Effect  of  this  Religion  on  the  Progress  of  Society — Import¬ 
ance  of  the  Subject  to  the  pious  Reader — Holy  Places — Pilgrims — 
Grounds  for  believing  the  ancient  Traditions  on  this  Head — Constan¬ 
tine  and  the  Empress  Helena— Relics — Natural  Scenery — Extent  of 
Canaan — Fertility — Geographical  Distribution — Countries  Eastward 
of  the  Jordan — Galilee — Bethlehem — Samaria — Jericho — The  Dead 
Sea — Table  representing  the  Possessions  of  the  Twelve  Tribes. 

The  country  to  which  the  name  of  Palestine  is  given  by 
the  moderns  is  that  portion  of  the  Turkish  empire  in  Asia 
wh  c  is  comprehended  within  the  31st  and  34th  degrees 
of  north  latitude,  and  extends  from  the  Mediterranean  to 
the  Syrian  Desert,  eastward  of  the  river  Jordan  and  the 
Dead  Sea.  Whether  viewed  as  the  source  of  our  religious 
faith,  or  as  the  most  ancient  fountain  of  our  historical 
knowledge,  this  singular  spot  of  ejarth  has  at  all  times  been 
regarded  with  feelings  of  the  deepest  interest  and  curiosity. 
Inhabited  for  many  ages  by  a  people  entitled  above  all 


18 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


others  to  the  distinction  of  peculiar,  it  presents  a  record  of 
events  such  as  have  not  come  to  pass  in  any  other  land, 
monuments  of  a  belief  denied  to  all  other  nations,  hopes 
not  elsewhere  cherished,  but  which,  nevertheless,  are  con¬ 
nected  with  the  destiny  of  the  whole  human  race,  and 
stretch  forward  to  the  consummation  of  all  terrestrial  things. 

To  the  eve  of  mere  philosophy  nothing  can  appear  more 
striking  than  the  effects  produced  upon  the  world  at  large 
by  the  opinions  and  events  which  originated  among  the 
Jewish  people.  A  pastoral  family,  neither  so  numerous, 
so  warlike,  nor  so  well  instructed  in  the  arts  of  civilized 
life  as  many  others  in  the  same  quarter  of  the  globe,  gradu¬ 
ally  increased  into  a  powerful  community,  became  distin¬ 
guished  by  a  system  of  doctrines  and  usages  different  from 
those  of  all  the  surrounding  tribes  ;  retaining  it,  too,  amid  the 
numerous  changes  of  fortune  to  which  they  were  subjected, 
and  finally  impressing  its  leading  principles  upon  the  most 
enlightened  nations  of  Asia  and  of  E  urope.  At  a  remote  era 
Abraham  crosses  the  Euphrates,  a  solitary  traveller,  not 
knowing  whither  he  went,  but  obeying  a  divine  voice,  which 
called  him  from  among  idolaters  to  become  the  father  of  a 
new  people  and  of  a  purer  faith,  at  a  distance  from  his 
native  country.  His  grandson  Jacob,  a  “  Syrian  ready  to 
perish,”  goes  down  into  Egypt  with  a  few  individuals, 
where  his  descendants,  although  evil  entreated  and  afflicted, 
became  a  “nation,  great,  mighty,  and  populous,”  and 
whence  they  were  delivered  by  the  special  interposition  of 
Heaven.  In  prosperity  and  adversity  they  are  still  the 
objects  of  the  same  vigilant  Providence  which  reserved 
them  for  a  great  purpose  to  be  accomplished  in  the  latter 
days ;  while  the  Israelites  themselves,  as  if  conscious  that 
their  election  was  to  be  crowned  with  momentous  results, 
still  kept  their  thoughts  fixed  on  Palestine,  as  the  theatre 
of  their  glory,  not  less  than  as  the  possession  of  their 
tribes. 

We  accordingly  see  them  at  one  period  in  bondage,  the 
victims  of  a  relentless  tyranny,  and  menaced  with  complete 
extirpation  ;  but  the  hope  of  enjoying  the  land  promised  to 
their  fathers  never  ceased  to  animate  their  hearts,  for  they 
trusted  that  God  would  surely  visit  them  in  the  house  of 
their  affliction,  and,  in  his  appointed  time,  carry  them  into 
the  inheritance  of  peace  and  rest.  At  a  later  epoch  we 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


19 


behold  them  swept  away  as  captives  by  the  hands  of  idola¬ 
ters,  who  used  all  the  motives  which  spring  from  fear  and 
from  interest  to  secure  their  compliance  with  a  foreign  wor¬ 
ship  ;  but  rejecting  all  such  inducements,  they  still  con¬ 
tinued  a  separate  people,  steadily  resisting  the  operation 
of  those  causes  which,  in  almost  every  other  instance,  have 
been  found  sufficient  to  melt  down  a  vanquished  horde  into 
the  population  and  habits  of  their  masters.  At  length  they 
appear  as  the  instruments  of  a  dispensation  which  em¬ 
braces  the  dearest  interests  of  all  the  sons  of  Adam ;  and 
which,  in  happier  circumstances  than  ever  fell  to  their 
own  lot,  has  already  modified  and  greatly  exalted  the  char¬ 
acter,  the  institutions,  and  the  prospects  of  the  most  im¬ 
proved  portion  of  mankind  in  both  hemispheres  of  the 
globe. 

Connected  with  Christianity,  indeed,  the  history  of  the 
Hebrews  rises  before  the  reflecting  mind  in  a  very  singular 
point  of  view  ;  for,  in  opposition  to  their  own  wishes  they 
laid  the  foundations  of  a  religion  which  has  not  only 
superseded  their  peculiar  rites,  but  is  rapidly  advancing 
towards  that  universal  acceptation  which  they  were  wont 
to  anticipate  in  favour  of  their  own  ancient  law.  In  spite 
of  themselves  they  have  acted  as  the  little  leaven  which  was 
destined  to  leaven  the  whole  lump  ;  and  in  performing  this 
office,  they  have  proceeded  with  nearly  the  same  .absence 
of  intention  and  consciousness  as  the  latent  principle  of 
fermentation  to  which  the  metaphor  bears  allusion.  They 
aimed  at  one  thing,  and  have  accomplished  another  ;  but 
while  we  compare  the  means  with  the  ends,  whether  in  their 
physical  or  moral  relations,  it  must  be  admitted  that  we 
therein  examine  one  of  the  most  remarkable  events  re¬ 
corded  in  the  annals  of  the  human  race. 

Abstracting  his  thoughts  from  all  the  considerations  of 
supernatural  agency  which  are  suggested  by  the  inspired 
narrative,  a  candid  man  will  nevertheless  feel  himself  com¬ 
pelled  to  acknowledge  that  the  course  of  events  which  con¬ 
stitutes  the  history  of  ancient  Palestine  has  no  parallel  in 
any  other  part  of  the  world.  Fixing  his  eye  on  the  small 
district  of  Judea,  he  calls  to  mind  that  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago  there  dwelt  in  that  little  region  a  singular  and 
rather  retired  people,  who,  however,  differed  from  the  rest 
of  mankind  in  the  very  important  circumstance  of  not  being 


20 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


idolaters.  He  looks  around  upon  every  other  country  of 
the  earth,  where  he  discovers  superstitions  of  the  most 
hateful  and  degrading  kind,  darkening  all  the  prospects  of 
the  human  being,  and  corrupting  his  moral  nature  in  its 
very  source.  He  observes  that  some  of  these  nations  are 
far  advanced  in  many  intellectual  accomplishments,  yet, 
being  unable  to  shake  off  the  tremendous  load  of  error  by 
which  they  are  pressed  down,  are  extremely  irregular  and 
capricious,  both  in  the  management  of  their  reason  and  in 
the  application  of  their  affections.  He  learns,  moreover, 
that  this  little  spot  called  Palestine  is  despised  and  scorned 
by  those  proud  kingdoms,  whose  wise  men  would  not  for  a 
moment  allow  themselves  to  imagine,  that  any  speculation 
or  tenet  arising  from  so  ignoble  a  quarter  could  have  the 
slightest  influence  upon  their  belief,  or  affect,  in  the  most 
minute  degree,  the  general  character  of  their  social  con¬ 
dition. 

But,  behold,  while  he  yet  muses  over  this  interesting 
scene,  a  Teacher  springs  up  from  among  the  lower  orders 
of  the  Hebrew  people, — himself  not  less  contemned  by  his 
countrymen  than  they  were  by  the  warlike  Romans  and  the 
philosophic  Greeks, — whose  doctrines,  notwithstanding, 
continue  to  gain  ground  on  every  hand,  till  at  last  the  proud 
monuments  of  pagan  superstition,  consecrated  by  the  wor¬ 
ship  of  a  thousand  years,  and  supported  by  the  authority 
of  the  most  powerful  monarchies  in  the  world,  fall  one  after 
another  at  the  approach  of  his  disciples,  and  before  the 
prevailing  efficacy  of  the  new  faith.  A  little  stone  becomes 
a  mountain,  and  fills  the  whole  earth.  Judea  swells  in  its 
dimensions  till  it  covers  half  the  globe,  carrying  captivity 
captive,  not  by  force  of  arms,  but  by  the  progress  of  opin¬ 
ion  and  the  power  of  truth.  All  the  nations  of  Europe  in 
successive  ages,— Greek,  Roman,  Barbarian, — glory  in  the 
name  of  the  humble  Galilean  ;  armies,  greater  than  those 
which  Persia  in  the  pride  of  her  ambition  led  forth  to 
conquest,  are  seen  swarming  into  Asia,  with  the  sole  view 
of  getting  possession  of  his  sepulchre  ;  while  the  East  and 
the  West  combine  to  adorn  with  their  treasures  the  stable 
m  which  he  was  born,  and  the  sacred  mount  on  which  he 
surrendered  his  precious  life.* 


*  See  Dialogues  on  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion.  By  the  Rev 
Robert  Morehead,  D.D.,  p.  241, — an  able  and  interesting  work. 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


21 


On  these  grounds,  there  is  presented  to  the  historian  and 
politician  a  problem  of  the  most  interesting  nature,  and 
which  is  not  to  be  solved  by  any  reference  to  the  ordinary 
principles  whence  mankind  are  induced  to  act  or  to  suffer. 
The  effects,  too,  produced  on  society,  exceed  all  calcula¬ 
tion.  It  is  in  vain  that  we  attempt  to  compare  them  to 
those  more  common  revolutions  which  have  changed  for  a 
time  the  face  of  nations,  or  given  a  new  dynasty  to  ancient 
empires.  The  impression  made  by  such  events  soon  passes 
away  :  the  troubled  surface  quickly  resumes  its  equilibrium, 
and  displays  its  wonted  tranquillity ;  and  hence  we  may 
assert,  that  the  present  condition  of  the  world  is  not  much 
different  from  what  it  would  have  been,  though  Alexander 
had  never  been  born  and  Julius  Csesar  had  died  in  his 
cradle.  But  the  occurrences  that  enter  into  the  history 
of  Palestine  possess  an  influence  on  human  affairs  which 
has  no  other  limits  than  the  existence  of  the  species,  and 
which  will  be  everywhere  more  deeply  felt  in  proportion 
as  society  advances  in  knowledge  and  refinement.  The 
greatest  nations  upon  earth  trace  their  happiness  and 
civilization  to  its  benign  principles  and  lofty  sanctions. 
Science,  freedom,  and  security,  attend  its  progress  among 
all  conditions  of  men ;  raising  the  low,  befriending  the 
unfortunate,  giving  strength  to  the  arm  of  law,  and  break¬ 
ing  the  rod  of  the  oppressor. 

Nor  is  the  subject  of  less  interest  to  the  pious  Christian, 
who  confines  his  thoughts  to  the  momentous  facts  which 
illustrate  the  early  annals  of  his  religion.  His  affections 
are  bound  to  Palestine  by  the  strongest  associations;  and 
every  portion  of  its  varied  territory,  its  mountains,  its  lakes, 
and  even  its  deserts  are  consecrated  in  his  eyes  as  the 
scene  of  some  mighty  occurrence.  His  fancy  clothes  with 
qualities  almost  celestial  that  holy  land, 

Over  whose  acres  walked  those  blessed  feet. 

Which  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  were  nailed 
For  our  advantage  to  the  bitter  cross. * 

In  a  former  age,  when  devotional  feelings  were  wont  to 
assume  a  more  poetical  form  than  suits  the  taste  of  the 
present  times,  an  undue  importance,  perhaps,  was  placed 

*  Shakspeare,  Henry  IV.  Part  I.  Act  1. 


22 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


on  the  mere  localities  of  Judea,  viewed  as  the  theatre  on 
which  the  great  events  of  Christianity  were  realized,  and 
more  especially  on  those  relics  which  were  considered  as 
identifying  particular  spots,  honoured  by  the  sufferings  or 
triumph  of  its  Divine  author.  The  zealous  pilgrim,  who 
had  travelled  many  thousand  miles  amid  the  most  appalling 
dangers,  required  a  solace  to  his  faith  in  the  contemplation 
of  the  cross,  or  in  being  permitted  to  kiss  the  threshold  of 
the  tomb  in  which  the  body  of  his  Redeemer  was  laid.  To 
such  a  character  no  description  could  be  too  minute,  no  details 
could  be  too  particular.  Forgetful  of  the  ravages  inflicted 
on  Jerusalem  by  the  hand  of  the  Romans,  and  by  the  more 
furious  anger  of  her  own  children  within  her, — fulfilling 
unintentionally  that  tremendous  doom  which  Was  pro¬ 
nounced  from  the  Mount  of  Olives, — the  simple  worshipper 
expected  to  see  the  hall  of  judgment,  the  house  of  Pilate, 
and  the  palace  of  the  high-priest,  and  to  be  able  to  trace 
through  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  holy  city  the  path  which 
led  his  Saviour  to  Calvary.  This  natural  desire  to  awaken 
piety  through  the  medium  of  the  senses,  and  to  banish  all 
unbelief  by  touching  with  the  hand,  and  seeing  with  the 
eye,  the  memorials  of  the  crucifixion,  has,  there  is  reason 
to  apprehend,  been  sometimes  abused  by  fraud  as  well  as 
by  ignorance. 

But  it  is  nevertheless  worthy  of  remark,  that  from  the 
very  situation  of  Jerusalem,  so  well  defined  by  natural 
limits  which  it  cannot  have  passed,  there  is  less  difficulty  in 
determining  places  with  a  certain  degree  of  precision  than 
would  be  experienced  in  any  other  ancient  town.  Nor  can 
it  be  justly  questioned,  that  the  primitive  Christians  marked 
with  peculiar  care  the  principal  localities  distinguished  by 
the  deeds  or  by  the  afflictions  of  their  Divine  Master,  it 
is  natural  to  suppose,  as  M.  Chateaubriand  well  observes, 
that  the  apostles  and  relatives  of  our  Saviour,  who  com¬ 
posed  his  first  church  upon  earth,  were  perfectly  acquainted 
with  all  the  circumstances  attending  his  life,  his  ministry, 
and  his  death  ;  and  as  Golgotha  and  the  Mount  of  Olives 
were  not  enclosed  within  the  walls  of  the  city,  they  would 
encounter  less  restraint  in  performing  their  devotions  in  the 
places  which  were  sanctified  by  his  more  frequent  presence 
and  miracles.  Besides,  the  knowledge  of  these  scenes  was 
soon  extended  to  a  very  wide  circle.  The  triumph  of  Pen- 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


23 


tecost  increased  vastly  the  number  of  believers ;  and  hence 
a  regular  congregation  appears  to  have  been  formed  in  Je¬ 
rusalem  before  the  expiry  of  the  third  year  from  that 
memorable  epoch.  If  it  be  admitted  that  the  early  Chris¬ 
tians  were  allowed  to  erect  monuments  to  their  religious 
worship,  or  even  to  select  houses  for  their  periodical  assem¬ 
blies,  the  probability  will  not  be  questioned  that  they  fixed 
upon  those  interesting  spots  which  had  been  distinguished 
by  the  wonders  of  their  faith. 

1  At  the  commencement  of  the  troubles  in  Judea,  during 
the  reign  of  Vespasian,  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem  withdrew 
to  Pella,  and  as  soon  as  their  metropolis  was  demolished  they 
returned  to  dwell  among  its  ruins.  In  the  space  of  a  few 
months  they  could  not  have  forgotten  the  position  of  their 
sanctuaries,  which,  generally  speaking,  being  situated  out¬ 
side  the  walls,  could  not  have  suffered  so  much  from  the 
siege  as  the  more  lofty  edifices  within.  That  the  holy 
places  were  known  to  all  men  in  the  time  of  Adrian  is  de¬ 
monstrated  by  an  undeniable  fact.  This  emperor,  when  he 
rebuilt  the  city,  erected  a  statue  of  Venus  on  Mount  Cal¬ 
vary,  and  another  of  Jupiter  on  the  sacred  sepulchre.  The 
grotto  of  Bethlehem  was  given  up  to  the  rites  of  Adonis ; 
the  jealousy  of  the  idolaters  thus  publishing,  by  their  abomi¬ 
nable  profanations,  the  sublime  doctrines  of  the  Cross, 
which  it  was  their  object  to  conceal  or  to  calumniate. 

But  Adrian,  although  actuated  by  an  ardent  zeal  in  be¬ 
half  of  his  own  deities,  did  not  persecute  the  Christians  at 
large.  His  resentment  seems  to  have  been  confined  to  the 
Nazarenes  in  Jerusalem,  whom  he  could  not  help  regarding 
as  a  portion  of  the  Jewish  nation, — the  irreconcilable  ene¬ 
mies  of  Rome.  We  accordingly  perceive,  that  he  had  no 
sooner  dispersed  the  church  of  the  Circumcision  established 
in  the  holy  city,  than  he  permitted  within  its  walls  thef 
formation  of  a  Christian  community,  composed  of  Gentile 
converts,  whose  political  principles,  he  imagined,  were  less 
inimical  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  empire.  At  the  same 
time  he  wrote  to  the  governors  of  his  Asiatic  provinces,  in¬ 
structing  them  not  to  molest  the  believers  in  Christ,  merely 
on  account  of  their  creed,  but  to  reserve  all  punishment 
for  crimes  committed  against  the  laws  and  the  public  tran¬ 
quillity.  It  has  therefore  been  very  generally  admitted,  that 
during  this  period  of  repose,  and  even  down  to  the  reign  of, 


24 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


Dioclesian,  the  faithful  at  Jerusalem,  now  called  yElia,  cele¬ 
brated  the  mysteries  of  their  religion  in  public,  and  conse¬ 
quently  had  altars  consecrated  to  their  worship.  If,  in¬ 
deed,  they  were  not  allowed  the  possession  of  Calvary,  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  and  of  Bethlehem,  where  they  might  sol¬ 
emnize  their  sacred  rites,  it  is  not  to  be  imagined  that  the 
memory  of  these  holy  sanctuaries  could  be  effaced  from 
their  affectionate  recollection.  The  very  idols  served  to 
mark  the  places  where  the  Christian  redemption  was  begun 
and  completed.  Nay,  the  pagans  themselves  cherished  the 
expectation  that  the  temple  of  V enus,  erected  on  the  sum¬ 
mit  of  Calvary,  would  not  prevent  the  Christians  from  vis¬ 
iting  that  holy  mount ;  rejoicing  in  the  idea,  as  the  histo¬ 
rian  Sozomen  expresses  it,  that  the  Nazarenes,  when  they 
repaired  to  Golgotha  to  pray,  would  appear  to  the  public 
eye  to  be  offering  up  their  adoration  to  the  daughter  of  Ju¬ 
piter.  This  is  a  striking  proof  that  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  sacred  places  was  retained  by  the  church  of  Jerusalem 
in  the  middle  of  the  second  century.  At  a  somewhat  later 
period,  when  exposed  to  persecution,  if  they  were  not  al¬ 
lowed  to  build  their  altars  at  the  Sepulchre,  or  proceed 
without  apprehension  to  the  scene  of  the  Nativity,  they 
enjoyed  at  least  the  consolation  of  keeping  alive  the  remem¬ 
brance  of  the  great  events  connected  with  these  interesting 
monuments  of  their  faith  ;  anticipating,  at  the  same  time, 
the  approaching  ruin  of  that  proud  superstition  by  which 
they  had  been  so  long  oppressed. 

The  conversion  of  Constantine  gave  a  new  vigour  to 
these  local  reminiscences  of  the  evangelical  history.”  That 
celebrated  ruler  wrote  to  Macarius,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  to 
cover  the  tomb  of  Jesus  Christ  with  a  magnificent  church ; 
while  his  mother,  the  Empress  Helena,  repaired  in  person 
to  Palestine,  in  order  to  give  a  proper  efficacy  to  the  zeal 
which  animated  the  throne,  and  to  assist  m  searching  for 
the  venerable  remains  of  the  first  age  of  the  gospel.  °  To 
this  illustrious  female  is  ascribed  the  glory  of  restoring  to 
religion  some  of  its  most  valued  memorials.  Not  satisfied 
with  the  splendid  temple  erected  at  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  she 
ordered  two  similar  edifices  to  be  reared  under  her  own 
auspices  ;  one  over  the  manger  of  the  Messiah  at  Bethle¬ 
hem,  and  the  other  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  to  commemo¬ 
rate  his  ascension  into  heaven.  Chapels,  altars,  and  houses 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


25 


of  prayer  gradually  marked  all  the  places  consecrated  by 
the  acts  of  the  Son  of  Man  ;  the  oral  traditions  were  forth¬ 
with  committed  to  writing,  and  thereby  secured  for  ever 
from  the  treachery  of  individual  recollection.* 

These  considerations  give  great  probability  to  the  con¬ 
jectures  of  those  pious  persons  who,  in  the  fourth  cen¬ 
tury  of  our  era,  assisted  the  mother  of  Constantine  in  fixing 
the  locality  of  holy  scenes.  From  that  period  down  to  the 
present  day,  the  devotion  of  the  Christian  and  the  avarice 
of  the  Mohammedan  have  sufficiently  secured  the  remem¬ 
brance  both  of  the  places  and  of  the  events  with  which 
they  are  associated.  But  no  length  of  time  can  wear  out 
the  impression  of  deep  reverence  and  respect  which  are  ex¬ 
cited  by  an  actual  examination  of  those  interesting  spots 
that  witnessed  the  stupendous  occurrences  recorded  in  the 
inspired  volume.  Or,  if  there  be  in  existence  any  cause 
which  could  effectually  counteract  such  natural  and  laudable 
feelings,  it  is  the  excessive  minuteness  of  detail  and  fanci¬ 
ful  description  usually  found  to  accompany  the  exhibition 
of  sacred  relics.  The  Christian  traveller  is  delighted  when 
he  obtains  the  first  glance  of  Carmel,  of  Tabor,  of  Libanus, 
and  of  Olivet ;  his  heart  opens  to  many  touching  recollec¬ 
tions  at  the  moment  when  the  Jordan,  the  Lake  of  Tibe¬ 
rias,  and  even  the  waters  of  the  Dead  Sea  spread  them¬ 
selves  out  before  his  eyes  ;  but  neither  bis  piety  nor  his  be¬ 
lief  is  strengthened  when  he  has  pr*esented  to  him  a  portion 
of  the  cross  whereon  oar  Saviour  was  suspended,  the  nails 
that  pierced  his  hands  and  feet,  the  linen  in  which  his  body 
wras  wrapped,  the  stone  on  which  his  corpse  reposed  in  the 
sepulchre,  as  well  as  that  occupied  by  the  ministering  angel 
on  the  morning  of  the  resurrection.  The  skepticism  with 
which  such  doubtful  remains  cannot  fail  to  be  examined 
is  turned  into  positive  disgust  when  the  guardians  of 
the  grotto  at  Bethlehem  undertake  to  show  the  water 
wherein  the  infant  Messiah  was  washed,  the  milk  of  the 
blessed  Virgin  his  mother,  the  swaddling-clothes,  the  man¬ 
ger,  and  other  particulars  neither  less  minute  nor  less  im¬ 
probable.  . 

But  such  abuses,  the  fruit  of  many  ages  of  credulity  and 

*  Chateaubriand  Itinbraire,  tome  i.  p.  48,  &c.  Sozom.  lib.  iii.  c.  i. 
Euseb.  Hist.  Eccl.lib.  vi.  S.  Cyril,  Cat.xvi. 

c 


25 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


ignorance,  do  not  materially  diminish  the  force  of  the  im¬ 
pression  produced  by  scenes  which  no  art  can  change,  and 
hardly  any  description  can  disguise.  The  hills  still  stand 
round  about  Jerusalem,  as  they  stood  in  the  days  of  David 
and  of  Solomon.  The  dew  falls  on  Hermon,  the  cedars 
grow  on  Libanus,  and  Kishon,  that  ancient  river,  draws  its 
stream  from  Tabor  as  in  the  times  of  old.  The  Sea  of 
Galilee  still  presents  the  same  natural  accompaniments,  the 
fig-tree  springs  up  by  the  wayside,  the  sycamore  spreads 
its  branches,  and  the  vines  and  olives  still  climb  the  sides 
of  the  mountains.  The  desolation  which  covered  the  Cities 
of  the  Plain  is  not  less  striking  at  the  present  hour  than 
when  Moses  with  an  inspired  pen  recorded  the  judgment 
of  God  ;  the  swellings  of  Jordan  are  not  less  regular  in 
their  rise  than  when  the  Hebrews  first  approached  its  banks  ; 
and  he  who  goes  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  still  incurs 
the  greatest  hazard  of  falling  among  thieves.  There  is,  in 
fact,  in  the  scenery  and  manners  of  Palestine,  a  perpetuity 
that  accords  well  with  the  everlasting  import  of  its  historical 
records,  and  which  enables  us  to  identify  with  the  utmost 
readiness  the  local  imagery  of  every  great  transaction. 

The  extent  of  this  remarkable  country  has  varied  at  dif¬ 
ferent  times,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  government 
which  it  has  either  enjoyed  or  been  compelled  to  acknow¬ 
ledge.  When  it  was  first  occupied  by  the  Israelites,  the 
land  of  Canaan,  properly  so  called,  was  confined  between 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  western  bank  of 
the  Jordan  ;  the  breadth  at  no  part  exceeding  fifty  miles, 
while  the  length  hardly  amounted  to  three  times  that  space. 
At  a  later  period,  the  arms  of  David  and  of  his  immediate 
successor  carried  the  boundaries  of  the  kingdom  to  the 
Euphrates  and  Orontes  on  the  one  hand,  and  in  an  opposite 
direction  to  the  remotest  confines  of  Edom  and  Moab.  The 
population,  as  might  be  expected,  has  undergone  a  similar 
variation.  It  is  true  that  no  particular  in  ancient  history 
is  liable  to  a  better-founded  suspicion  than  the  numerical 
statements  which  respect  nations  and  armies  ;  for  pride  and 
fear  have,  in  their  turn,  contributed  not  a  little  to  exaggerate, 
in  rival  countries,  the  amount  of  the  persons  capable  of 
taking  a  share  in  the  field  of  battle.  Proceeding  on  the 
usual  grounds  of  calculation,  we  must  infer,  from  the  num¬ 
ber  of  warriors  whom  Moses  conducted  through  the  desert. 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


27 


that  the  Hebrew  people,  when  they  crossed  the  Jordan,  did 
not  fall  short  of  two  millions  ;  while,  from  facts  recorded 
in  the  book  of  Samuel,  we  may  conclude  with  greater  con¬ 
fidence  that  the  enrolment  made  under  the  direction  of  Joab 
must  have  returned  a  gross  population  of  five  millions  and 
a  half. 

The  present  aspect  of  Palestine,  under  an  administration 
where  every  thing  decays  and  nothing  is  renewed,  can  afford 
no  just  criterion  of  the  accuracy  of  such  statements.  Hasty 
observers  have  indeed  pronounced  that  a  hilly  country  des¬ 
titute  of  great  rivers  could  not,  even  under  the  most  skilful 
management,  supply  food  for  so  many  mouths.  But  this 
precipitate  conclusion  has  been  vigorously  combated  by  the 
most  competent  judges,  who  have  taken  pains  to  estimate 
the  produce  of  a  soil  under  the  fertilizing  influence  of  a  sun 
which  may  be  regarded  as  almost  tropical,  and  of  a  well- 
regulated  irrigation  which  the  Syrians  knew  how  to  practise 
with  the  greatest  success.  Canaan,  it  must  be  admitted, 
could  not  be  compared  to  Egypt  in  respect  to  corn.  There 
is  no  Nile  to  scatter  the  riches  of  an  inexhaustible  fecundity 
over  its  valleys  and  plains.  Still  it  was  not  without  reason 
that  Moses  described  it  as  “  a  good  land,  a  land  of  brooks 
of  water,  of  fountains,  and  depths  that  spring  out  of  vallej'S 
and  hills ;  a  land  of  wheat,  and  barley,  and  vines,  and  fig- 
trees,  and  pomegranates  ;  a  land  of  oil-olive  and  honey  ;  a 
land  wherein  thou  shalt  eat  bread  without  scarceness,  thou 
shalt  not  lack  any  thing  in  it ;  a  land  whose  stones  are  iron, 
and  out  of  whose  hills  thou  mayst  dig  brass.”* 

The  reports  of  the  latest  travellers  confirm  the  accuracy 
of  the  picture  drawn  by  this  divine  legislator.  Near  Jericho 
the  wild  olives  continue  to  bear  berries  of  a  large  size,  which 
give  the  finest  oil.  In  places  subjected  to  irrigation,  the 
same  field,  after  a  crop  of  wheat  in  May,  produces  pulse  in 
autumn.  Several  of  the  trees  are  continually  bearing 
flowers  and  fruit  at  the  same  time,  in  all  their  stages.  The 
mulberry,  planted  in  straight  rows  in  the  open  field,  is  fes¬ 
tooned  by  the  tendrils  of  the  vine.  If  this  vegetation  seems 
to  languish  or  become  extinct  during  the  extreme  heats, — 
if  in  the  mountains  it  is  at  all  seasons  detached  and  inter¬ 
rupted, — such  exceptions  to  the  general  luxuriance  are  not 


*  Deuteronomy  viii.  7,  8,  9. 


28 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS- 


to  be  ascribed  simply  to  the  general  character  of  all  hot  cli¬ 
mates,  but  also  to  the  state  of  barbarism  in  which  the  great 
mass  of  the  present  population  is  immersed. 

Even  in  our  day,  some  remains  are  to  be  found  of  the 
walls  which  the  ancient  cultivators  built  to  support  the  soil 
on  the  declivities  of  the  mountains  ;  the  form  of  the  cisterns 
in  which  they  collected  the  rain-water ;  and  traces  ol  the 
canals  by  which  this  water  was  distributed  over  the  fields. 
These  labours  necessarily  created  a  prodigious  fertility 
under  an  ardent  sun,  where  a  little  moisture  wras  the  only 
requisite  to  revive  the  vegetable  world.  The  accounts  given 
by  native  writers  respecting  the  productive  qualities  of  Ju¬ 
dea  are  not  in  any  degree  opposed  even  by  the  present 
aspect  of  the  country.  The  case  is  exactly  the  same  with 
some  islands  in  the  Archipelago  ;  a  tract,  from  which  a 
hundred  individuals  can  hardly  draw  a  scanty  subsistence, 
formerly  maintained  thousands  in  affluence.  Moses  might 
justly  say  that  Canaan  abounded  in  milk  and  honey.  The 
flocks  of  the  Arabs  still  find  in  it  a  luxuriant  pasture,  while 
the  bees  deposite  in  the  holes  of  the  rocks  their  delicious 
stores,  which  are  sometimes  seen  flowing  down  the  surface. 

The  opinions  just  stated  in  regard  to  the  fertility  of 
ancient  Palestine  receive  an  ample  confirmation  from  the 
Roman  historians,  to  whom,  as  a  part  of  their  extensive 
empire,  it  was  intimately  known.  Tacitus,  especially,  in 
language  which  he  appears  to  have  formed  for  his  own  use, 
describes  its  natural  qualities  with  the  utmost  precision,  and, 
as  is  his  manner,  suggests  rather  than  specifies  a  catalogue 
of  productions,  the  accuracy  of  which  is  verified  by  the 
latest  observations.  The  soil  is  rich,  and  the  atmosphere 
dry ;  the  country  yields  all  the  fruits  which  are  known  in 
Italy,  besides  balm  and  dates.* 

^  But  it  has  never  been  denied  that  there  is  a  remarkable 
difference  between  the  two  sides  of  the  ridge  which  forms 
the  central  chain  of  Judea.  On  the  western  acclivity,  the 
soil  rises  from  the  sea  towards  the  elevated  ground  in  four 
distinct  terraces,  which  are  covered  with  an  unfading  ver- 

*  Terra  finesque,  qua  ad  Orienfem  vergunt,  Arabia  terminantur;  a 
meridie  .Egyptus  objacet ;  ab  occasu  Phcenices  et  mare  ;  septemtrionem 
a  latere  Syriae  ionge  prospectant.  Corpora  hominum  salubria  et  ferentia 
laborem:  rari  irnbres,  uber  solum  :  fruges  nostrum  ad  morem;  preter* 
que  eas  balsamum  et  palmae.  Hist.  lib.  v.  c.  G. 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS.  29 

dure.  The  shore  is  lined  with  mastic-trees,  palms,  and 
prickly  pears.  Higher  up,  the  vines,  the  olives,  and  the 
sycamores  amply  repay  the  labour  of  the  cultivator;  natu¬ 
ral  groves  arise,  consisting  of  evergreen  oaks,  cypresses, 
andrachnes,  and  turpentines.  The  face  of  the  earth  is  em¬ 
bellished  with  the  rosemary,  the  cytisus,  and  the  hyacinth. 
In  a  word,  the  vegetation  of  these  mountains  has  been  com¬ 
pared  to  that  of  Crete.  European  visiters  have  dined  under 
the  shade  of  a  lemon-tree  as  large  as  one  of  our  strongest 
oaks,  and  have  seen  sycamores,  the  foliage  of  which  was 
sufficient  to  cover  thirty  persons  along  with  their  horses 
and  camels. 

On  the  eastern  side,  however,  the  scanty  coating  of  mould 
jdelds  a  less  magnificent  crop.  From  the  summit  of  the 
hills  a  desert  stretches  along  to  the  Lake  Asphaltites,  pre¬ 
senting  nothing  but  stones  and  ashes,  and  a  few  thorny 
shrubs.  The  sides  of  the  mountains  enlarge,  and  assume 
an  aspect  at  once  more  grand  and  more  barren.  By  little 
and  little  the  scanty  vegetation  languishes  and  dies  ;  even 
mosses  disappear,  and  a  red  burning  hue  succeeds  to  the 
whiteness  of  the  rocks.  In  the  centre  of  this  amphitheatre 
there  is  an  arid  basin,  enclosed  on  all  sides  with  summits 
scattered  over  with  a  yellow-coloured  pebble,  and  affording 
a  single  aperture  to  the  east,  through  which  the  surface  of 
the  Dead  Sea  and  the  distant  hills  of  Arabia  present  them¬ 
selves  to  the  eye.  In  the  midst  of  this  country  of  stones, 
encircled  by  a  wall,  we  perceive  extensive  ruins,  stunted 
cypresses,  bushes  of  the  aloe  and  prickly  pear,  while  some 
huts  of  the  meanest  order,  resembling  whitewashed  sepul¬ 
chres,  are  spread  over  the  desolated  mass.  This  spot  is 
Jerusalem.* 

This  melancholy  delineation,  which  was  suggested  by 
the  state  of  the  Jewish  metropolis  in  the  third  century,  is 
not  quite  inapplicable  at  the  present  hour.  The  scenery  of 
external  nature  is  the  same,  and  the  general  aspect  of  the 
venerable  city  is  very  little  changed.  But  as  beauty  is 
strictly  a  relative  term,  and  is  everywhere  greatly  affected 
by  association,  we  must  not  be  surprised  when  we  read  in 

*  Belon,  Observations  de  Singularity,  p.  140.  Hasselquist’s  Travels, 
p.  56.  Korte’s  Travels  in  Palestine.  Chateaubriand,  les  Martyrs,  vol. 
Ui.  p.  99.  Schultze’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  89. 


30 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


the  works  of  eastern  authors  the  high  encomiums  which 
are  lavished  upon  the  vicinity  of  the  holy  capital.  Abul- 
feda,  for  example,  maintains,  not  only  that  Palestine  is  the 
most  fertile  part  of  Syria,  but  also  that  the  neighbourhood 
of  Jerusalem  is  one  of  the  most  fertile  districts  of  Palestine. 
In  his  eye,  the  vines,  the  fig-trees,  and  the  olive-groves, 
with  which  the  limestone  cliffs  of  Judea  were  once  covered, 
identified  themselves  with  the  richest  returns  of  agricultural 
wealth,  and  more  than  compensated  for  the  absence  of 
those  spreading  fields  waving  with  corn  which  are  neces¬ 
sary  to  convey  to  the  mind  of  a  European  the  ideas  of 
fruitfulness,  comfort,  and  abundance. 

Following  the  enlightened  narrative  of  Malte  Brun,  the 
rea'der  will  find  that  southward  of  Damascus,  the  point 
where  the  modern  Palestine  may  be  said  to  begin,  are  the 
countries  called  by  the  Romans  Auranitis  and  Gaulonitis, 
consisting  of  one  extensive  and  noble  plain,  bounded  on 
the  north  by  Hermon  or  Djibel-el-Sheik,  on  the  south-west 
by  Djibel-Edjlan,  and  on  the  east  by  Haouran.  In  all 
these  countries  there  is  not  a  single  stream  which  retains 
its  water  in  summer.  The  most  of  the  villages  have  their 
pond  or  reservoir,  which  they  fill  from  one  of  the  wadi,  or 
brooks,  during  the  rainy  season.  Of  all  these  districts, 
Haouran  is  the  most  celebrated  for  the  culture  of  wheat. 
Nothing  can  exceed  in  grandeur  the  extensive  undulations 
of  their  fields,  moving  like  the  waves  of  the  ocean  in  the 
wind.  Bothin  or  Batanea,  on  the  other  hand,  contains 
nothing  except  calcareous  mountains,  where  there  are  vast 
caverns,  in  which  the  Arabian  shepherds  live  like  the  ancient 
Troglodytes.  Here  a  modern  traveller,  Dr.  Seetzen,  dis¬ 
covered,  in  the  year  1816,  the  magnificent  ruins  of  Gerasa, 
now  called  Djerash,  where  three  temples,  two  superb  am¬ 
phitheatres  of  marble,  and  hundreds  of  columns  still  remain 
among  other  monuments  of  Roman  power.  But  by  far  the 
fi^  e  thmo  that  he  saw  was  a  long  street,  bordered  on  each 
side  with  a  splendid  colonnade  of  Corinthian  architecture, 
and  terminating  in  an  open  space  of  a  semicircular  form, 
surrounded  with  sixty  Ionic  pillars.  In  the  same  neighbour¬ 
hood  the  ancient  Gilead  is  distinguished  by  a  forest  of 
stately  oaks,  which  supply  wealth  and  employment  to  the 
inhabitants.  Peraea  presents  on  its  numerous  terraces  a 

mixture  of  vines,  olives,  and  pomegranates.  Karak-Moab. 

»  9 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS.  3  1  * 

the  capital  of  a  district  corresponding  to  that  of  the  primi¬ 
tive  Moabites,  still  meets  the  eye,  but  is  not  to  be  con¬ 
founded  with  another  town  of  a  similar  name  in  the  Stony1 
Arabia.* 

The  countries  now  described  lie  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  river  Jordan.  But  the  same  stream,  in  the  upper  part 
of  its  course,  forms  the  boundary  between  Gaulonitis  and 
the  fertile  Galilee,  which  is  identical  with  the  modern  dis¬ 
trict  of  Szaffad.  This  town,  which  is  remarkable  for  the 
beauty  of  its  situation  amid  groves  of  myrtle,  is  supposed  to 
be  the  ancient  Bethulia,  which  was  besieged  by  Holofernes. 
Tabaria,  an  insignificant  place,  occupies  the  site  of  Tibe¬ 
rias,  which  gave  its  name  to  the  lake  more  generally  known 
by  that  of  Genesareth,  or  the  Sea  of  Galilee  ;  but  industry 
has  now  deserted  its  borders,  and  the  fisherman  with  his 
skiff  and  his  nets  no  Ion  o'er  animates  the  surface  of  its 

O 

waters.  Nazareth  still  retains  some  portion  of  its  former 
consequence.  Six  miles  farther  south  stands  the  hill  of 
Tabor,  sometimes  denominated  Itabyrius,  presenting  a 
pyramid  of  verdure  crowned  with  olives  and  sycamores. 
From  the  top  of  this  mountain,  the  modern  Tor  and  scene 
of  the  transfiguration,  we  look  down  on  the  river  Jordan, 
the  Lake  of  Genesareth,  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea.f 
Galilee,  says  a  learned  writer,  would  be  a  paradise  were 
it  inhabited  by  an  industrious  people  under  an  enlightened 
government.  Vine  stocks  are  to  be  seen  here  a  foot  and  a 
half  in  diameter,  forming,  by  their  twining  branches,  vast 
arches  and  extensive  ceilino-s  of  verdure.  A  cluster  of 

O 

grapes,  two  or  three  feet  in  length,  will  give  an  abundant 
supper  to  a  whole  family.  The  plains  of  Esdraelon  are 
occupied  by  Arab  tribes,  around  whose  brown  tents  the 
sheep  and  lambs  gambol  to  the  sound  of  the  reed,  which  at 

!  nightfall  calls  them  home.f 

For  some  years  this  fine  country  has  groaned  and  bled 
under  the  malignant  genius  of  Turkish  despotism.  The 
fields  are  left  without  cultivation,  and  the  towns  and  vil¬ 
lages  are  reduced  to  beggary ;  but  the  latest  accounts  from 

*  Seetzen,  in  Annales  des  Voyages,  i.  398 ;  and  Correspondance  de 
M.  Zach.  425. 

t  Maundrell,  p.  60. 

i  Chateaubriand  Itinera  ire,  ii.  123.  Malte  Brun,  vol.  ii.  150—160. 
Edin.  Edition. 


32 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


the  Holy  Land  encourage  us  to  entertain  the  hope,  that  a 
milder  administration  will  soon  change  the  aspect  of  affairs, 
and  bestow  upon  the  Syrian  provinces  at  large  some  of  the 
benefits  which  the  more  liberal  policy  of  Mohammed  Ali 
has  conferred  upon  the  pashalic  of  Egypt. 

Proceeding  from  Galilee  towards  the  metropolis,  we  enter 
the  land  of  Samaria,  comprehending  the  modern  districts 
of  Areta  and  Nablous.  In  the  former  we  find  the  remains 
of  Cesarea  ;  and  on  the  Gulf  of  St.  Jean  d’Acre  stands  the 
town  of  Caypha,  where  there  is  a  good  anchorage  for  ships. 
On  the  south-west  of  this  gulf  extends  a  chain  of  mountains, 
which  terminates  in  the  promontory  of  Carmel,  a  name 
famous  in  the  annals  of  our  religion.  There  Elijah  proved 
by  miracles  the  divinity  of  his  mission  ;  and  there,  in  the 
middle  a^es  of  the  church,  resided  thousands  of  Christian 
devotees,  who  sought  a  refuge  for  their  piety  in  the  caves 
of  the  rocks.  Then  the  mountain  was  wholly  covered  with 
chapels  and  gardens,  whereas  at  the  present  day  nothing 
is  to  be  seen  but  scattered  ruins  amid  forests  ofToak  and 
olives,  the  bright  verdure  being  only  relieved  by  the  white¬ 
ness  of  the  calcareous  cliffs  over  which  they  are  suspended. 
The  heights  of  Carmel,  it  has-been  frequently  remarked, 
enjoy  a  pure  and  enlivening  atmosphere,  while  the  lower 
grounds  of  Samaria  and  Galilee  are  obscured  by  the  densest 
fogs. 

The  Shechem  of  the  Scriptures,  successively  known  by  the 
names  of  Neapolis  and  Nablous,  still  contains  a  consider¬ 
able  population,  although  its  dwellings  are  mean  and  its 
inhabitants  poor.  The  ruins  of  Samaria  itself  are  now 
covered  with  orchards  ;  and  the  people  of  the  district,  who 
have  forgotten  their  native  dialect,  as  well  perhaps  as  their 
angry  disputes  vtdth  the  Jews,  continue  to  worship  the 
Deity  on  the  verdant  slopes  of  Gerizim. 

Palestine,  agreeably  to  the  modern  acceptation  of  the 
term,  embraces  the  country  of  the  ancient  Philistines,  the 
most  formidable  enemies  of  the  Hebrew  tribes  prior  to  the 
reign  of  David.  Besides  Gaza,  the  chief  town,  we  recog¬ 
nise  the  celebrated  port  of  Jaffa  or  Yaffa,  corresponding  to 
the  Joppa  mentioned  in  the  Sacred  Writings.  Repeatedly 
fortified  and  dismantled,  this  famous  harbour  has  presented 
such  a  variety  of  appearances,  that  the  description  given  of 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS.  33 

it  in  one  age  has  hardly  ever  been  found  to  apply  to  its 
condition  in  the  very  next. 

Bethlehem,  where  the  divine  Messias  was  born,  is  a  large 
village  inhabited  promiscuously  by  Christians  and  Mussul¬ 
mans,  who  agree  in  nothing  but  their  detestation  of  the 
tyranny  by  which  they  are  both  unmercifully  oppressed. 
The  locality  of  the  sacred  manger  is  occupied  by  an  elegant 
church,  ornamented  by  the  pious  offerings  of  all  the  nations 
of  Europe.  It  is  not  our  intention  to  enter  into  a  more 
minute  discussion  of  those  old  traditions,  by  which  the  par¬ 
ticular  places  rendered  sacred  by  the  Redeemer’s  presence 
are  still  marked  out  for  the  veneration  of  the  faithful.  They 
present  much  vagueness,  mingled  with  no  small  portion  of 
unquestionable  truth.  At  all  events,  we  must  not  regard 
them  in  the  same  light  in  which  we  are  compelled  to  view 
the  story  that  claims  for  Hebron  the  possession  of  Abra¬ 
ham’s  tomb,  and  attracts  on  this  account  the  veneration 
both  of  Nazarenes  and  Moslems. 

To  the  north-east  of  Jerusalem,  in  the  large  and  fertile 
valley  called  El-Gaur,  and  watered  by  the  Jordan,  we  find 
the  village  of  Rah,  the  ancient  Jericho,  denominated  by 
Moses  the  City  of  Palms.  This  is  a  name  to  which  it  is 
still  entitled  ;  but  the  groves  of  opobalsamum,  or  balm  of 
Mecca,  have  long  disappeared;  nor  is  the  neighbourhood 
any  longer  adorned  with  those  singular  flowers  known 
among  the  Crusaders  by  the  familiar  appellation  of  Jericho 
j'oses.  A  little  farther  south  two  rough  and  barren  chains 
of  hills  encompass  with  their  dark  steeps  a  long  basin  formed 
in  a  clay  soil  mixed  with  bitumen  and  rock-salt.  The  water 
contained  in  this  hollow  is  impregnated  with  a  solution  of 
different  saline  substances,  having  lime,  magnesia,  and  soda 
for  their  base,  partially  neutralized  with  muriatic  and  sul¬ 
phuric  acid.  The  salt  which  it  yields  by  evaporation  is 
about  one-fourth  of  its  weight.  The  bituminous  matter 
rises  from  time  to  time  from  the  bottom  of  the  laske,  floats 
on  the  surface,  and  is  thrown  out  on  the  shores,  where  it  is 
gathered  for  various  economical  purposes.  It  is  to  be  re¬ 
gretted  that  this  inland  sea  has  not  yet  been  examined  with 
the  attention  which  it  deserves.  We  are  told,  indeed,  by 
the  greater  number  of  those  wrho  have  visited  it,  that  neither 
fish  nor  shells  are  to  be  found  in  its  waters;  that  an  un¬ 
wholesome  vapour  is  constantly  emitted  from  its  bosom  ; 


34 


INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS. 


and  that  its  banks,  hideous  and  desolate  in  the  extreme,  are 
never  cheered  by  the  note  of  any  bird.  But  it  is  admitted 
by  the  same  travellers,  that  the  inhabitants  are  not  sensible 
of  any  noxious  qualities  in  its  exhalations  ;  while  the  ac¬ 
counts  formerly  believed,  that  the  winged  tribes  in  attempt¬ 
ing  to  fly  over  it  fell  down  dead,  are  now  generally  regarded 
as  fabulous.  Tradition  supports  the  narrative  of  Sacred 
Scripture  so  far  as  to  teach  that  the  channel  of  the  Dead 
Sea  was  once  a  fertile  valley,  partly  resting  on  a  mass  of 
subterranean  water,  and  partly  composed  of  a  stratum  of 
bitumen  ;  and  that  a  lire  from  heaven  kindling  these  com¬ 
bustible  materials,  the  rich  soil  sunk  into  the  abyss  beneath, 
and  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  were  consumed  in  the  tre¬ 
mendous  conflagration. 

This  brief  outline  of  the  geographical  limits  and  physical 
characters  of  the  Holy  Land  may  prove  sufficient  as  an 
introduction  to  its  ancient  history.  Details  much  more 
ample  are  to  be  found  in  numerous  works,  whose  authors, 
fascinated  bv  the  interesting  recollections  which  almost 
every  object  in  Palestine  is  fitted  to  suggest,  have  endea¬ 
voured  to  transfer  to  the  minds  of  their  readers  the  profound 
impressions  which  they  themselves  experienced  from  a  per¬ 
sonal  review  of  ancient  scenes  and  monuments.  But  wTe 
purposely  refrain  at  present  from  the  minute  description  to 
which  the  subject  so  naturally  invites  us,  because,  in  a  sub¬ 
sequent  part  of  our  undertaking,  we  shall  be  unavoidably 
led  into  a  train  of  local  particularities,  while  setting  forth 
the  actual  condition  of  the  country  and  of  its  venerable  re¬ 
mains.  Meantime,  we  supply,  in  the  following  table,  the 
means  of  comparing  the  division  or  distribution  of  Canaan 
among  the  Twelve  Tribes,  with  that  which  was  afterward 
adopted  by  the  Romans. 


Ancient 

Canaanitish  Division. 


Israelitish  Division. 


Roman  Division. 


Sidonians,  • 
Unknown,. 
Perizzites,  - 
The  same, . 

Hivites, 
The  same,. 


Tribe  of  Asher  (in  Libanus)  } 

)  Naphtali  (north-west  of  the  >  Upper  Galilee. 
\  Lake  of  Genesareth) 

Zebulun  (west  of  that  lake)  ) 

$  Issacbar  (Valley  of  Esdraelon,  Lower  Galilee. 
}  Mount  Tabor)  S 

t  Half-tribe  of  Manasseh  (Dora  I 
l  and  Cesarea)  >  Samaria. 

Ephraim  (Shcchem,  Samaria)  ) 


HISTORY  OF  THE  HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH.  35 


Ancient 

Canaanitish  Division. 

Jebusites, . 

Amorites,  Ilittites,. . . 

Philistines, . 

Moabites, . 

Ammonites,  Gilead,  . . 

Kingdom  of  Bashan, 


Israelitish  Division. 
Benjamin  (Jericho.  Jerusalem)  ) 
Judah  (Hebron,  Judea  proper)  1 
\  Simeon  (south-west  of  Judah)  [ 
(  Dan  (Joppa)  J 

Reuben  (Peraea,  Heshbon) 

Gad  (Decapolis,  Ammonitis) 

)  Half-tribe  of  Manasseh,  Gaul- 
(  onitis,  Batanea, 


Roman  Division. 

Judea. 


Pertea. 


Iu  a  pastoral  country,  such  as  that  beyond  the  river  Jor¬ 
dan  especially,  where  the  desert  in  most  parts  bordered  upon 
the  cultivated  soil,  the  limits  of  the  several  possessions  could 
not  at  all  times  be  distinctly  marked.  It  is  well  known, 
besides,  that  the  native  inhabitants  were  never  entirely  ex¬ 
pelled  by  the  victorious  Hebrews,  but  that  they  retained,  in 
some  instances  by  force,  and  in  others  by  treaty,  a  consider¬ 
able  portion  of  land  within  the  borders  of  all  the  tribes, — a 
fact  which  is  connected  with  many  of  the  defections  and 
troubles  into  which  the  Israelites  subsequently  fell. 


CHAPTER  II. 

History  of  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth. 

Form  of  Government  after  the  Death  of  Joshua — In  Egypt— In  the  Wil¬ 
derness— Princes  of  Tribes  and  Heads  of  Families — Impatience  to  take 
Possession  of  Promised  Land— The  Effects  of  it— Renewal  of  War — 
Extent  of  Holy  Land — Opinions  of  Fleury,  Spanheim,  Reland,  and 
Lowman — Principle  of  Distribution — Each  Tribe  confined  to  a  separate 
Locality — Property  unalienable — Conditions  of  Tenure-  Population 
of  the  Tribes — Number  of  Principal  Families — A  General  Govern¬ 
ment  or  Natural  Council — The  Judges — Nature  of  their  Authority — 
Not  ordinary  Magistrates— Different  from  Kings,  Consuls,  and  Dic¬ 
tators — Judicial  Establishments — Judges  and  Officers— Described  by 
Josephus — Equality  of  Condition  among  the  Hebrews — Their  Inclina¬ 
tion  for  a  Pastoral  Life — Freebooters,  like  the  Arabs — Abimeleeh,  Jeph- 
thah,  and  David — Simplicity  of  the  Times — Boaz  and  Ruth — Tribe  of 
Levi—  Object  of  their  Separation — The  learned  Professions  heredi¬ 
tary,  after  the  manner  of  the  Egyptians — The  Levitical  Cities — Their 
Number  and  Uses— Opinion  of  Michaelis — Summary  View  of  the 
Times  and  Character  of  the  Hebrew  Judges. 

Learned  men  have  long  exercised  their  ingenuity  with 
the  view  of  determining  the  precise  form  of  the  social  con¬ 
dition  which  was  assumed  by  the  Israelites  when  they  took 


38 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


possession  of  the  Promised  Land.  The  sacred  writer  con¬ 
tents  himself  with  stating,  that  “  it  came  to  pass  a  long 
time  after  the  Lord  had  given  rest  unto  Israel  from  all  their 
enemies  round  about,  that  Joshua  waxed  old  and  stricken 
in  age  ;  and  he  called  for  all  Israel,  for  their  elders,  and  for 
their  heads,  and  for  their  judges,  and  for  their  officers.” 
The  purport  of  the  address  he  delivered  on  this  occasion, 
and  which  is  given  at  length  in  the  twenty-third  chapter  of 
the  book  which  bears  his  name,  was  solely  to  remind  them 
of  their  religious  obligations  as  the  chosen  people  of  Jeho¬ 
vah,  and  of  the  labours  that  they  had  yet  to  undergo  in  subdu¬ 
ing  the  remainder  of  Canaan.  Neither  in  this  speech,  nor 
in  the  exhortation  with  which  he  afterward  at  Shechem  en¬ 
deavoured  to  animate  the  zeal  and  constancy  of  his  followers, 
did  he  make  any  allusion  to  the  form  of  government  that  it 
behooved  them  to  adopt ;  declining  even  to  direct  their  choice 
in  the  appointment  of  a  chief,  who  might  conduct  their 
armies  in  the  field,  and  preside  in  the  deliberations  of  the 
national  council. 

The  first  events  which  occurred  after  the  demise  of  Joshua 
appear  to  establish  the  fact,  that  to  every  tribe  was  com¬ 
mitted  the  management  of  its  own  affairs,  even  to  the  extent 
of  being  entitled  to  wage  war  and  make  peace  wfithout  the 
advice  or  sanction  of  the  general  senate.  The  only  govern¬ 
ment  to  which  the  sons  of  Jacob  had  hitherto  been  accus¬ 
tomed,  was  that  most  ancient  and  universal  system  of  rule 
which  gives  to  the  head  of  every  family  the  direction  and  con¬ 
trol  of  all  its  members.  We  find  traces  of  this  natural  sub¬ 
ordination  among  them,  even  under  the  pressure  of  Egyptian 
bondage.  During  the  negotiations  which  preceded  their 
deliverance  under  the  ministry  of  Moses,  the  applications 
and  messages  were  all  addressed  to  the  patriarchal  rulers 
of  the  people.  “  Go  gather  the  elders  of  Israel  together,” 
was  the  command  of  Jehovah  to  the  son  of  Amram,  when 
the  latter  received  authority  to  rescue  the  descendants  of 
Isaac  from  the  tyranny  of  Pharaoh. 

But  during  the  pilgrimage  in  the  wilderness,  and  more 
particularly  when  the  tribes  approached  the  confines  of  the 
devoted  nations  of  Canaan,  the  original  jurisdiction  of  the 
family  chiefs  was  rendered  subordinate  to  the  military  power 
of  their  inspired  leader,  who,  as  the  commander  of  the 
armies  of  Israel,  was  esteemed  and  obeyed  by  his  followers 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


37 


as  the  lieutenant  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  In  truth,  the  mar¬ 
tial  labours  to  which  his  office  called  him,  placed  the  suc¬ 
cessor  of  Moses  at  the  head  of  his  countrymen  in  quality 
of  a  general,  guiding  them  on  their  march  or  forming  their 
array  in  the  field  of  battle,  rather  than  as  a  teacher  of  wis¬ 
dom  or  the  guardian  of  a  peculiar  faith  and  worship.  Until 
the  conquered  lands  were  divided  among  the  victorious 
tribes,  Joshua  was  a  soldier  and  nothing  more  ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  congregation  of  the  Hebrews,  who 
seconded  so  well  his  military  plans,  appear  at  that  juncture 
on  the  page  of  history  in  no  other  light  than  that  of  veteran 
troops,  rendered  hardy  by  long  service  in  a  parching  climate, 
and  formidable  by  the  arts  of  discipline  under  a  skilful  and 
warlike  leader. 

From  the  exode,  in  short,  till  towards  the  end  of  Joshua’s 
administration,  we  lose  sight  of  that  simple  scheme  of  do¬ 
mestic  superintendence  which  Jacob  established  among  his 
sons.  The  princes  of  tribes,  and  the  heads  of  families, 
were  converted  into  captains  of  thousands,  of  hundreds, 
and  of  fifties  ;  regulating  their  movements  by  the  sound  of 
the  trumpet,  and  passing  their  days  of  rest  amid  the  vigi¬ 
lance  and  formality  of  a  regular  encampment.  But  no  sooner 
did  they  convert  the  sword  into  a  ploughshare,  and  the  spear 
into  a  pruning-hook,  than  they  unanimously  returned  to 
their  more  ancient  form  of  society.  As  soon  as  there  ap¬ 
peared  a  sufficient  quantity  of  land  wrested  from  the  Canaan- 
ites  to  afford  to  the  tribes  on  the  western  side  of  the  Jor¬ 
dan  a  competent  inheritance,  Joshua  “  sent  the  people 
away,  and  they  departed  and  from  this  moment  the  mili¬ 
tary  aspect  that  their  community  had  assumed  gave  way 
to  the  patriarchal  model,  to  which  in  fact  all  their  institu¬ 
tions  bore  an  immediate  reference,  and  to  the  restoration  of 
which  their  strongest  hopes  and  wishes  were  constantly 
directed. 

Actuated  by  such  views,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  He¬ 
brews  manifested  an  undue  impatience  to  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  their  successful  invasion.  They  had  fought,  it  should 
seem,  to  obtain  an  inheritance  in  a  rich  and  pleasant  coun¬ 
try,  rather  than  to  avenge  the  cause  of  pure  religion,  or  to 
punish  the  idolatrous  practices  of  the  children  of  Moab  and 
Ammon.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  fear  of  their  name  and 
the  power  of  their  arms  had  scattered  the  inhabitants  of  the 

D 


38 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


open  countries,  the  Israelites  began  to  sow  and  to  plant ; 
being  more  willing  to  make  a  covenant  with  the  residue  of 
the  enemy,  than  to  purchase  the  blessings  of  a  permanent 
peace  by  enduring  a  little  longer  the  fatigue  and  privations 
of  war.  Their  eagerness  to  get  possession  of  the  land  flow¬ 
ing  with  milk  and  honey  seems  to  have  compelled  Joshua 
to  adopt  a  measure,  which  led  at  no  distant  period  to  much 
guilt  and  suffering  on  the  part  of  his  people.  He  consented 
that  they  should  occupy  the  vacant  fields  before  the  nations 
which  they  had  been  commissioned  to  displace  were  finally 
subdued  ;  that  they  should  cast  lots  for  provinces  which 
were  still  in  the  hands  of  the  native  Gentiles  ;  and  that  they 
should  distribute,  by  the  line  and  the  measuring-rod,  many 
extensive  hills  and  fair  valleys  which  had  not  yet  submitted 
to  the  dominion  of  their  swords. 

The  effects  of  this  injudicious  policy  soon  rendered  them¬ 
selves  apparent ;  and  all  the  evils  which  were  foreseen  by 
the  aged  servant  of  God,  when  he  addressed  the  congre- 
gation  at  Shechem,  were  realized  in  a  little  time  to  their 
fullest  extent.  The  Hebrews  did  indeed  find  the  remnant 
of  the  nations  among  whom  they  consented  to  dwell  proving 
scourges  in  their  sides  and  thorns  in  their  eyes,  and  still 
able  to  dispute  with  them  the  possession  of  the  good  land 
which  they  had  been  taught  to  regard  as  a  sacred  inherit¬ 
ance  conferred  upon  them  in  virtue  of  a  divine  promise 
made  to  their  fathers.  For  example,  the  author  of  the  book 
of  Judges  relates,  “  the  Amorites  forced  the  children  of  Dan 
into  the  mountains  for,  he  adds,  “  they  would  not  suffer 
them  to  come  down  to  the  valley.”  Hence  arose  the  fact, 
that  the  Israelites  did  not  for  several  hundred  years  com¬ 
plete  their  conquest  of  Palestine.  The  Canaanites,  re¬ 
covering  from  the  terror  which  had  fallen  upon  them  in  the 
commencement  of  the  Hebrew  invasion,  attempted,  not  only 
to  regain  possession  of  their  ancient  territory,  but  even  to 
obliterate  all  traces  of  their  defeat  and  subjection.  What 
movements  were  made  by  the  petty  sovereigns  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  in  order  to  effect  their  object,  we  are  nowhere  expressly 
told  ;  but  we  find,  from  a  consultation  held  by  the  southern 
tribes  of  Israel,  soon  after  the  death  of  Joshua,  that  the 
necessity  of  renewing  military  operations  against  the  na¬ 
tives  could  no  longer  be  postponed.  It  was  resolved,  ac¬ 
cordingly,  that  Judah  and  Simeon  should  unite  their  arms, 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


39 


and  take  the  held,  to  prevent,  in  the  first  place,  an  inroad 
with  which  their  borders  were  threatened,  and,  subse¬ 
quently,  to  reduce  to  a  state  of  entire  subjection  the  cities 
and  towns  that  stood  within  the  limits  of  their  respective 
districts.  “And  Judah  said  unto  Simeon  his  brother, 
come  up  with  me  into  my  lot,  that  we  may  fight  against 
the  Canaanites ;  and  I  likewise  will  go  with  thee  into  thy 
lot.”* 

But,  leaving  these  preliminary  matters,  we  shall  proceed 
to  take  a  survey  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth,  as  it  ap¬ 
peared  upon  its  first  settlement  under  the  successors  of 
Joshua  ;  endeavouring  to  ascertain  the  grounds  upon  which 
the  federal  union  of  the  tribes  was  established ;  their  rela¬ 
tions  towards  one  another  in  peace  and  in  war  ;  the  re-  . 
sources  of  which  they  were  possessed  for  conquest  or  self- 
defence  ;  their  civil  rights  and  privileges  as  independent 
states  ;  their  laws  and  judicatories  ;  and,  above  all,  the  na¬ 
ture  and  extent  of  their  property,  as  well  as  the  tenure  on 
which  it  was  held  by  families  and  individuals.  Closely  con¬ 
nected  wdth  this  subject  is  a  consideration  of  that  agrarian 
law  which  was  sanctioned  by  Moses  and  acted  upon  by 
Joshua,  and  which  will  be  found,  not  only  to  have  deter¬ 
mined,  but  also  to  have  secured,  the  inheritance  of  every 
Israelite  who  entered  the  Promised  Land. 

The  extent  of  that  portion  of  Syria  which  was  granted  to 
the  Hebrew  nation  has  been  variously  estimated.  On  the 
authority  of  Hecataeus,  a  native  of  Abdera,  who  is  quoted 
by  Josephus,  the  limits  of  the  territory  possessed  by  the 
Jews  are  fixed  at  three  millions  of  acres,  supposing  the 
aroura  of  the  Greeks  to  correspond  to  the  denomination  of 
English  measure  just  specified.  Proceeding  on  this  ground, 
the  Abb£  Fleury  and  other  writers  have  undertaken  to  prove 
that  the  quantity  of  land  mentioned  by  Hecataeus  would 
maintain  only  three  millions  three  hundred  and  seventy 
five  thousand  men, — a  computation  which  is  liable  to  many 
objections,  and  has  not  therefore  been  generally  received. 

It  is  obvious,  for  instance,  that  the  Abderite,  who  lived  in 
the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  is  said  to  have  after¬ 
ward,  attached  himself  to  the  person  of  the  first  Grecian 
king  of  Egypt,  described  the  country  of  the  Jews  as  he  saw  it, 


*  Judges  i.  3. 


40 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


under  the  dominion  of  the  Syrian  princes  of  the  Macedonian 
line.  He  accordingly  beheld  only  the  inheritance  of  the  two 
tribes  which  had  returned  from  the  Babylonian  captivity,  and 
of  consequence  confined  his  estimates  to  the  provinces  that 
they  were  permitted  to  enjoy  ;  taking  no  account  of  those 
extensive  districts  that  formerly  belonged  to  the  Ten  Tribes 
of  Israel,  and  which,  in  his  days,  were  in  the  hands  of  that 
mixed  race  of  men  who  were  descended  from  the  Assyrian 
colonists  whom  Shalmaneser  placed  in  their  room.* 

Confiding  in  the  greater  accuracy  of  Spanheim,  Reland, 
and  Lowman,  we  are  inclined  to  compute  the  Hebrew  ter¬ 
ritory  at  about  fifteen  millions  of  acres  ;  assuming,  with 
these  writers,  that  the  true  boundaries  of  the  Promised 
t  Land  were,  Mount  Libanus  on  the  north,  the  Wilderness 
of  Arabia  on  the  south,  and  the  Syrian  Desert  on  the  east. 
On  the  west  some  of  the  tribes  extended  their  posses¬ 
sions  to  the  very  waters  of  the  Great  Sea,  though  on  other 
parts  they  found  their  boundary  restricted  by  the  lands  of 
the  Philistines,  whose  rich  domains  comprehended  the  low 
lands  and  strong  cities  which  stretched  along  the  shore.  It 
has  been  calculated  by  Spanheim,  that  the  remotest  points 
of  the  Holy  Land,  as  possessed  by  King  David,  were  situ¬ 
ated  at  the  distance  of  three  degrees  of  latitude,  and  as 
many  degrees  of  longitude,  including  in  all  about  twenty- 
six  thousand  square  miles. t 

If  this  computation  be  correct,  there  was  in  the  possession 
of  the  Hebrew  chiefs  land  sufficient  to  allow  to  every 
Israelite  capable  of  bearing  arms  a  lot  of  about  twenty 
acres  ;  reserving  for  public  uses,  as  also  for  the  cities  of  the 
Levites,  about  one-tenth  of  the  whole.  It  is  probable,  how¬ 
ever,  that  if  we  make  a  suitable  allowance  for  lakes,  moun¬ 
tains,  and  unproductive  tracts  of  ground,  the  portion  to 
every  householder  would  not  be  so  large  as  the  estimate 
now  stated.  But  within  the  limits  of  one-half  of  this  quan¬ 
tity  of  land  there  were  ample  means  for  plenty  and  frugal 
enjoyment.  The  Roman  people  under  Romulus  and  long 
after  could  afford  only  two  acres  to  every  legionary  soldier  ; 
and  in  the  most  flourishing  days  of  the  commonwealth  the 

*  Joseph,  contra  Apion.  cap.  I.  2  Kings  xvii.  24. 

t  Reland,  Palestina  Illustrata,  lib.  ii.  c.  5.  Spanheim,  Charta  terns 
Israelis.  Lowman  on  the  Civil  Government  of  the  Hebrews. 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


41 


allowance  did  not  exceed  four.  Hence  the  quatuor  jugeray 
or  four  acres,  is  an  expression  which  proverbially  indicated 
plebeian  affluence  and  contentment, — a  full  remuneration 
for  the  toils  of  war,  and  a  sufficient  inducement  at  all  times 
to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  the  republic. 

The  territory  of  the  Hebrews  was  ordered  to  be  equally 
divided  among  their  tribes  and  families  according  to  their 
respective  numbers ;  and  the  persons  selected  to  super¬ 
intend  this  national  work  were  Eleazar,  the  high-priest, 
Joshua,  who  acted  in  the  character  of  judge,  and  the  twelve 
princes  or  heads  of  Israel.  The  rule  which  they  followed 
is  expressed  in  these  words, — “  And  ye  shall  divide  the  land 
by  lot,  for  an  inheritance  among  your  families  ;  and  to  the 
more  ye  shall  give  the  more  inheritance ;  and  to  the  fewer 
ye  shall  give  the  less  inheritance  :  every  man’s  inheritance 
shall  be  in  the  place  where  his  lot  falleth ;  according  to  the 
tribes  of  your  fathers  ye  shall  inherit.” 

Every  tribe  was  thus  put  in  possession  of  a  separate  dis¬ 
trict  or  province,  in  which  all  the  occupiers  of  the  land  were 
not  only  Israelites,  but  more  particularly  sprung  from  the 
same  stock,  and  descendants  of  the  same  patriarch.  The 
several  families,  again,  were  placed  in  the  same  neighbour¬ 
hood,  receiving  their  inheritance  in  the  same  part  or  sub¬ 
division  of  the  tribe  ;  or,  to  use  the  language  of  Lowman, 
each  tribe  may  be  said  to  have  lived  together  in  one  and  the 
same  county,  and  each  family  in  one  and  the  same  hundred  ; 
so  that  every  neighbourhood  were  relations  to  each  other 
and  of  the  same  families,  as  well  as  inhabitants  of  the  same 
place. 

To  secure  the  permanence  and  independence  of  every 
separate  tribe,  a  law  was  enacted  by  the  authority  of 
Heaven,  providing  that  the  landed  property  of  every  Israelite 
should  be  unalienable.  Whatever  encumbrances  might 
befall  the  owner  of  a  field,  and  whatever  miadit  be  the  ob- 
ligations  under  which  he  placed  himself  to  his  creditor, 
he  was  released  from  all  claims  at  the  year  of  jubilee. 
“Ye  shall  hallow,”  said  the  inspired  legislator,  “  the  fiftieth 
year,  and  proclaim  liberty  throughout  all  the  land  unto  all 
the  inhabitants  thereof.  It  shall  be  a  jubilee  unto  you,  and 
ye  shall  return  every  man  to  his  possession,  and  ye  shall 
return  every  man  unto  his  family.  And  the  land  shall  not 

D  2 


42 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


be  sold  for  ever  ;  for  the  land  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  ;  for 
ye  are  strangers  and  sojourners  with  me.”* 

The  attentive  reader  of  the  Mosaical  law  will  observe, 
that  though  a  Hebrew  could  not  divest  himself  of  his  land 
in  perpetuity,  he  could  dispose  of  it  so  far  as  to  put  another 
person  in  possession  of  it  during  a  certain  number  of  years ; 
reserving  to  himself  and  his  relations  the  right  of  redeeming 
it,  should  they  ever  possess  the  means  ;  and  having  at  all 
events  the  sure  prospect  of  a  reversion  at  the  period  of  the 
jubilee.  In  the  eye  of  the  lawgiver  this  transaction  was  not 
regarded  as  a  sale  of  the  land,  but  merely  of  the  crops  for  a 
stated  number  of  seasons.  It  might  indeed  have  been  con¬ 
sidered  simply  as  a  lease,  had  not  the  owner,  as  v/ell  as  his 
nearest  kinsman,  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  resuming  occu¬ 
pation  whenever  they  could  repay  the.  sum  for  which  the 
temporary  use  of  the  land  had  been  purchased.! 

The  houses  which  were  built  in  fields  or  villages  were,  in 
regard  to  the  principle  of  alienation,  placed  on  the  same  foot¬ 
ing  as  the  lands  themselves  ;  being  redeemable  at  all  times, 
and  destined  to  return  to  their  original  owners  in  the  year 
of  jubilee.  But,  on  the  contrary,  houses  in  cities  and  large 
towns  were,  when  sold,  redeemable  only  during  one  year ; 
after  which  the  sale  was  held  binding  for  ever.  There  was 
indeed  an  exception  in  this  case  in  favour  of  the  Levites, 
who  could  at  any  time  redeem  “  the  houses  of  the  cities  of 
their  possession,”  and  who,  moreover,  enjoyed  the  full  ad¬ 
vantage  of  the  fiftieth  year. 

The  Hebrews,  like  most  other  nations  in  a  similar  state 
of  society,  held  their  lands  on  the  condition  of  military 
service.  The  grounds  of  exemption  allowed  by  Moses 
prove  clearly  that  every  man  of  competent  age  was  bound 
to  bear  arms  in  defence  of  his  country, — a  conclusion 
which  is  at  once  strikingly  illustrated  and  confirmed  by  the 
conduct  of  the  Senate  or  Heads  of  Tribes,  in  the  melan¬ 
choly  war  undertaken  by  them  against  the  children  of 
Benjamin.  Upon  a  muster  of  the  confederated  army  at 
Mizpeh,  it  was  discovered  that  no  man  had  been  sent  from 
Jabesh-gilead  to  join  the  camp  ;  whereupon  it  was  imme¬ 
diately  resolved  that  twelve  thousand  soldiers  should  be 
despatched  to  put  all  the  inhabitants  of  that  town  to  mili- 


*  Lev.  xxv.  23. 


t  Lev.  xxv.  24-28. 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


43 


taTy  execution.  And  the  congregation  commanded  them, 
saying,  Go  and  smite  Jabesh-gilead  with  the  edge  of  the 
sword,  with  the  women  and  children  ;  and  the  only  reason 
assigned  for  this  severe  order  was,  that  “  when  the  people 
were  numbered,  there  were  none  of  the  men  of  Jabesh- 
gilead  there.”* 

The  reader  will  now  be  prepared  to  accompany  us  while 
we  make  a  few  remarks  on  the  civil  constitution  of  the 
Hebrews,  both  as  it  respected  the  government  of  the 
several  tribes  viewed  as  separate  bodies,  and  as  it  applied 
to  that  of  the  whole  nation  as  a  confederated  republic. 

The  tribes  of  Israel,  strictly  speaking,  amounted  only  to 
twelve,  descended  from  the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob.  But  as 
the  posterity  of  Joseph  was  divided  into  two  tribes,  it  fol¬ 
lows  that  the  host  which  entered  the  Land  of  Canaan  under 
Joshua  comprehended  thirteen  of  these  distinct  genealogies. 
Viewed  in  reference  to  merely  secular  rights  and  duties, 
however,  the  offspring  of  Levi  having  no  part  nor  lot  with 
their  brethren,  are  not  usually  reckoned  in  the  number  ; 
while  on  other  grounds,  and  chiefly  an  invincible  propensity 
to  idolatrous  usages,  the  tribe  of  Dan  at  a  later  period  was 
sometimes  excluded  from  the  list.  In  the  twenty-sixth 
chapter  of  the  book  of  Numbers,  we  have  an  account  of 
the  enrolment  which  was  made  on  the  plains  of  Moab  ; 
from  which  the  numerical  strength  of  the  eleven  secular 
tribes  may  be  exhibited  as  follows  : — 


Joseph  (including  Ephraim  and  Manasseh)  85,200 


Judah  ... 
Issachar . 
Zebulun  . 
Asher  . . . 

Dan . 

Benjamin 
Naphtali  . 
Reuben  . . 

Gad . 

Simeon . . 


76.500 
64,300 

60.500 

53.400 

46.400 
45,600 

45.400 
43,730 

40.500 
22,200 


This  catalogue  comprehended  all  the  men  above  twenty 
years  of  age,  to  which  may  be  added  23,000  of  the  tribe 
of  Levi,  “  all  males  from  a  month  old  and  upward :  for 


♦  Judges  xxi.  8-13. 


44 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


they  were  not  numbered  among  the  children  of  Israel,  be¬ 
cause  there  was  no  inheritance  given  them  among  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  Israel.”  The  whole  amounted  to  six  hundred  and 
six  thousand  seven  hundred.* 

In  every  tribe  there  was  a  chief  called  the  Prince  of  the 
Tribe,  or  the  Head  of  Thousands  ;  and  under  him  were 
the  Princes  of  Families,  or  Commanders  of  Hundreds. 
For  example,  we  find  that  at  the  muster  which  was  made 
of  the  Hebrews  in  the  Wilderness  of  Sinai,  Nahshon,  the 
son  of  Amminadab,  was  Prince  of  the  Tribe  of  Judah. 
This  tribe,  again,  like  all  the  others,  was  divided  into  several 
families  ;  the  term  being  used  here  not  in  its  ordinary  ac¬ 
ceptation,  to  signify  a  mere  household,  but  rather  in  the 
heraldic  sense,  to  denote  a  lineage  or  kindred  descended 
from  a  common  ancestor,  and  constituting  the  main  branches 
of  an  original  stock.  In  this  respect  the  Israelites  were 
guided  by  the  same  principle  which  regulates  precedency 
among  the  Arabs,  as  well  as  among  our  own  countrymen 
in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland. 

It  appears,  moreover,  that  a  record  of  these  families,  of 
the  households  in  each,  and  even  of  the  individuals  belong¬ 
ing  to  every  household,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
chief  ruler  ;  for  it  is  related  that,  on  the  suspicion  excited 
with  regard  to  the  spoils  of  Jericho  and  the  discomfiture  at 
Ai,  “  Joshua  brought  Israel  by  their  tribes,  and  the  tribe 
of  Judah  was  taken  ;  and  he  brought  the  family  of  Judah, 
and  he  took  the  family  of  the  Zarhites  ;  and  he  brought 
the  family  of  the  Zarhites  man  by  man,  and  Zabdi  was 
taken  ;  and  he  brought  his  household  man  by  man,  and 
Achan,  the  son  of  Carmi,  the  son  of  Zabdi,  the  son  of 
Zerah,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  was  taken.”! 

We  may  collect  from  the  twenty-sixth  chapter  of  the 
book  of  Numbers,  that  the  Heads  of  Families,  at  the  time 
the  children  of  Israel  encamped  on  the  eastern  bank  of 
the  Jordan,  were  in  number  fifty-seven.  If  to  these  we  add 
the  thirteen  Princes,  the  Heads  of  Tribes,  the  sum  of  the 
two  numbers  will  be  seventy  ;  whence  there  is  some  ground 
for  the  conjectures  of  those  who  allege,  that  the  council 
which  Moses  formed  in  the  Wilderness  consisted  of  the 
patriarchal  chiefs,  who  in  right  of  birth  were  recognised 

*  Numbers  xxvi.  62.  |  Joshua  vii.  16,  17, 18. 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


45 


as  bearing  an  hereditary  rule  over  the  several  sections  of  the 
people. 

It  is  probable  that  the  first-born  of  the  senior  family  of 
each  tribe  was  usually  received  as  the  prince  of  that  tribe, 
and  that  the  eldest  son  of  every  subordinate  family  suc¬ 
ceeded  his  father  in  the  honours  and  duties  which  belonged 
to  the  rank  of  a  patriarch.  But  the  sacred  narrative  pre¬ 
sents  too  few  details  to  permit  us  to  form  with  confidence 
any  general  conclusions  in  regard  to  this  point.  The  case 
of  Nahshon,  besides,  has  been  viewed  as  an  instance  quite 
irreconcilable  with  such  an  opinion  ;  and  it  certainly  seems 
to  prove,  that  if  the  Prince  of  the  Tribe  was  not  elective, 
he  was  not  always,  at  least,  the  direct  descendant  of  the 
original  chief.  Nahshon,  as  has  just  been  stated,  was  the 
son  of  Amminadab,  the  son  of  Ram,  who  was  a  younger 
son  of  Hezron  the  son  of  Pharez,  who  was  a  younger  son 
of  Judah.* 

From  the  particulars  now  stated,  we  find  that  every  tribe 
had  a  head  who  presided  over  its  affairs,  administered  jus¬ 
tice  in  all  ordinary  cases,  and  led  the  troops  in  time  of  war. 
He  was  assisted  in  these  important  duties  by  the  subordi¬ 
nate  officers,  the  Chiefs  of  Families,  who  formed  his  council 
in  such  matters  of  policy  as  affected  their  particular  dis¬ 
trict,  supported  his  decisions  in  civil  or  criminal  inquiries, 
and  finally  commanded  under  him  in  the  field  of  battle. 

But  the  polity  established  by  the  Jewish  lawgiver  was 
not  confined  to  the  constitution  and  government  of  the 
separate  tribes.  It  likewise  extended  its  regulations  to  the 
common  welfare  of  the  whole,  as  one  kingdom  under  the 
special  direction  of  Jehovah  ;  and  provided  that  on  all  great 
occasions  they  should  have  the  means  of  readily  uniting 
their  counsels  and  their  strength.  Even  during  the  less 
orderly  period  which  immediately  followed  the  settlement 
of  the  Hebrews  in  the  land  of  their  inheritance,  we  find 
traces  of  such  a  general  government ;  a  national  senate, 
whose  deliberations  guided  the  administration  of  affairs  in 
all  cases  of  difficulty  or  hazard  ;  a  judge,  who  was  invested 
with  a  high  degree  of  executive  authority  as  the  first  magis¬ 
trate  of  the  commonwealth  ;  and  lastly,  the  controlling 
voice  of  the  congregation  of  Israel,  whose  concurrence  ap- 


*  1  Cljron.  iL  10,  11. 


46 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


pears  to  have  been  at  all  times  necessary  to  give  vigour  and 
effect  to  the  resolutions  of  their  leaders.  To  these  con¬ 
stituent  parts  of  the  Hebrew  government  we  may  add  the 
Oracle  or  voice  of  Jehovah,  without  whose  sanction,  as 
revealed  by  Urim  and  Thummim,  no  measure  of  importance 
could  be  adopted  either  by  the  council  or  by  the  judge. 

It  has  been  justly  remarked,  at  the  same  time,  that  how¬ 
ever  extensive  the  power  might  be  which  was  committed 
to  the  supreme  court  of  the  nation,  and  how  much  soever 
the  authority  of  a  military  judge  among  the  Israelites 
resembled  that  of  a  Roman  dictator,  the  privilege  of  making 
laws  was  at  no  period  intrusted  to  any  order  of  the  Jewish 
state.  As  long  as  the  Hebrews  were  governed  by  a  the¬ 
ocracy,  this  essential  prerogative  was  retained  by  the  Divine 
Head  of  the  nation.  “Now  therefore  hearken,  0  Israel, 
unto  the  statutes,  and  unto  the  judgments,  which  I  teach 
you,  for  to  do  them,  that  ye  may  live,  and  go  in  and  pos¬ 
sess  the  land  which  the  Lord  God  of  your  fathers  giveth 
you.  Ye  shall  not  add  unto  the  word  which  I  command 
you,  neither  shall  ye  diminish  aught  from  it,  that  ye  may 
keep  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  your  God  which  I 
command  you.”* 

It  is  the  opinion  of  learned  men,  that  the  Council  of 
Seventy,  established  by  Moses  in  the  Wilderness,  was  only 
a  temporary  appointment,  and  did  not  continue  after  the 
Hebrews  were  settled  in  the  -Land  of  Canaan.  The  only 
national  assembly  of  which  we  can  discover  any  trace  sub¬ 
sequently  to  that  event,  is  the  occasional  meeting  of  the 
Princes  of  Tribes  and  Chiefs  of  Families  to  transact  busi¬ 
ness  of  great  public  importance.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  the 
war  against  Benjamin,  of  which  we  have  a  full  account  in 
the  book  of  Judges,  we  are  informed  that  the  heads  “  of 
all  the  tribes,  even  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  presented 
themselves  in  the  assembly  of  the  people  of  God.”  On 
that  memorable  occasion,  the  interests  and  character  of 
the  whole  Hebrew  commonwealth  were  at  stake  ;  for  which 
reason  the  natural  leaders  of  the  tribes  gathered  themselves 
together  at  the  head  of  their  kinsmen  and  followers, — even 
four  hundred  thousand  men  that  drew  the  sword, — in  order 

*  Deut.  iv.  1,  2;  xii.  32.  “  Hoc  igitur  argumento  maximo  est;  juris 
illius  majestatis  quod  in  legibus  ferendis  est  positum,  nihil  quicquam 
penes  hominem  ftiisse.”—  Conringius  de  Repub.  Heb. 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


47 


to  consult  with  one  another,  and  to  adopt  such  measures  as 
might  be  deemed  most  suitable  for  punishing  the  atrocities 
which  had  been  committed  at  Gibeah. 

During  the  period  to  which  this  part  of  our  narrative 
refers,  the  supreme  power  among  the  Hebrews  was  occa¬ 
sionally  exercised  by  judges, — an  order  of  magistrates  to 
which  nothing  similar  is  to  be  found  in  any  other  country. 
The  Carthaginians,  indeed,  had  a  description  of  rulers, 
■whose  names,  being  derived  from  the  same  oriental  term, 
appear  to  establish  some  resemblance  in  their  office  to  that 
of  the  successors  of  Joshua.  But  it  will  be  found  upon  a 
comparison  of  their  authority,  both  in  its  origin  and  the 
purposes  to  which  it  was  meant  to  be  subservient,  that  the 
Hebrew  judges  and  the  suffites  of  Carthage  had  very  little 
in  common.  Nor  do  we  find  any  closer  analogy  in  the  du¬ 
ties  of  a  Grecian  archon  or  of  a  Roman  consul.  These 
were  ordinary  magistrates,  and  periodically  elected  ;  where¬ 
as,  the  judge  was  never  invested  with  power  except  when 
the  exigencies  of  public  affairs  required  the  aid  of  extraor¬ 
dinary  talents  or  the  weight  of  a  supernatural  appointment. 
On  this  account  the  Hebrew  commander  has  been  likened 
to  the  Roman  dictator,  who,  when  the  commonwealth  was 
in  danger,  was  intrusted  with  an  authority  almost  unlimited, 
and  with  a  jurisdiction  which  extended  to  the  lives  and  for¬ 
tunes  of  nearly  all  his  countrymen.  But  in  one  important 
particular  this  similarity  fails.  The  dictator  laid  down  his 
office  as  soon  as  the  crisis  which  called  for  its  exercise  had 
passed  away  ;  and  in  no  circumstances  was  he  entitled  to 
retain  such  unwonted  supremacy  beyond  a  limited  time. 
The  judge,  on  the  other  hand,  remained  invested  with  his 
high  authority  during  the  full  period  of  his  life,  and  is 
therefore  usually  described  by  the  sacred  historian  as  pre¬ 
siding  to  the  end  of  his  days  over  the  tribes  of  Israel,  amid 
the  peace  and  security  which  his  military  skill,  aided  by  the 
blessing  of  Heaven,  had  restored  to  their  land.* 

The  Hebrew  judges,  says  Dupin,  were  not  ordinary  ma¬ 
gistrates,  but  men  raised  up  by  God,  on  whom  the  Israelites 
bestowed  the  chief  government,  either  because  they  had  de¬ 
livered  them  from  the  oppressions  under  which  they  groaned, 

*  Livii  Hist.  lib.  xxviii.  37 ;  lib.  xxx.  7.  Bochart,  Geog.  Sacra,  part  ii. 
lib.  ii.  24. 


48 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


or  because  of  their  prudence  and  equity.  They  ruled  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  law  of  Jehovah,  commanded  their  armies* 
made  treaties  with  the  neighbouring  princes,  declared  wa 
and  peace,  and  administered  justice.  They  were  different 
from  kings, — 

1.  In  that  they  were  not  established  either  by  election 
or  succession,  but  elevated  to  power  in  an  extraordinary 
manner. 

2.  In  that  they  refused  to  take  upon  them  the  title  and 
quality  of  king. 

3.  In  that  they  levied  no  taxes  upon  the  people  for  the 
maintenance  of  government. 

4.  In  their  manner  of  living,  which  was  very  far  from  the 
pomp  and  ostentation  of  the  regal  state. 

5.  In  that  they  could  make  no  new  laws,  but  governed 
according  to  the  statutes  contained  in  the  Books  of  Moses. 

6.  In  that  the  obedience  paid  to  them  by  the  people  was 
voluntary  and  unforced,  being  at  most  no  more  than  consuls 
and  magistrates  of  free  cities.* 

But  it  is  less  difficult  to  determine  what  the  judges  were 
not  than  to  ascertain  with  precision  the  various  parts  of  their 
complicated  office.  In  war,  they  led  the  host  of  Israel  to 
meet  their  enemies ;  and  in  peace,  it  is  probable  they  pre¬ 
sided  in  such  courts  of  judicature  as  might  be  found  neces¬ 
sary  for  deciding  upon  intricate  points  of  law,  or  for  hearing 
appeals  from  inferior  tribunals.  Those  who  went  up  to 
Deborah  for  judgment  had,  we  may  presume,  brought  their 
causes  in  the  first  instance  before  the  judges  of  their  respect¬ 
ive  cities  ;  and  it  was  only,  perhaps,  in  cases  where  greater 
knowledge  and  a  higher  authority  were  required  to  give 
satisfaction  to  the  litigants  that  the  chief  magistrate  of  the 
republic,  aided  by  certain  members  of  the  priesthood,  was 
called  upon  to  pronounce  a  final  decision. 

It  belongs  to  this  part  of  the  subject  to  mention  the  pro¬ 
vision  made  by  Moses,  and  established  by  Joshua,  for  the 
due  administration  of  justice  throughout  the  land.  “Judges 
and  officers,”  said  the  former,  “  shalt  thou  make  thee  in  all 
thy  gates  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  ;  and  they 
shall  judge  the  people  with  just  judgment.  Thou  shalt  not 
wrest  judgment ;  thou  shalt  not  respect  persons,  neither 

*  Complete  History  of  the  Canon,  book  i.  c.  3. 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


49 


take  a  gift ;  for  a  gift  doth  blind  the  eyes  of  the  wise  and 
pervert  the  words  of  the  righteous.”  To  the  same  purpose 
.  'osephus  relates,  in  his  account  of  the  last  address  delivered 
by  Moses  to  the  Hebrew  people,  that  this  great  legislator 
gave  instructions  to  appoint  seven  judges  in  every  city,  men 
who  had  distinguished  themselves  by  their  good  conduct  and 
impartial  feelings.  Let  those  who  judge,  he  adds,  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  determine  according  as  they  shall  think  right,  un¬ 
less  any  one  can  show  that  they  have  taken  bribes  to  the 
perversion  of  justice,  or  can  allege  any  other  accusation 
against  them.* 

Between  the  “judges”  and  the  “officers”  nominated  by 
the  Jewish  lawgiver  there  was  no  doubt  a  marked  distinc¬ 
tion  ;  though  from  the  remote  antiquity  of  the  appointment 
and  the  obscure  commentaries  of  the  rabbinical  writers  it 
has  become  extremely  difficult  to  define  the  limits  of  their 
respective  functions.  Maimonides  asserts,  that  in  every 
city  where  the  number  of  householders  amounted  to  a  hun¬ 
dred  and  twenty  there  was  a  court  consisting  of  twenty- 
three  judges,  who  were  empowered  to  determine  in  almost 
all  cases  both  civil  and  criminal.  This  is  unquestionably 
the  same  institution  which  is  mentioned  by  Josephus  in  the 
fourth  book  of  his  Antiquities,  and  described  by  him  as 
being  composed  of  seven  judges  and  fourteen  subordinate 
officers,  or  assistants,  selected  from  among  the  Levites  ;  for 
these,  with  the  president  and  his  deputy,  make  up  the  sum 
of  twenty-three  specified  by  the  Jewish  writers.  In  smaller 
towns,  the  administration  of  law  was  intrusted  to  three 
judges,  whose  authority  extended  to  the  determination  of 
all  questions  respecting  debt,  theft,  rights  of  inheritance, 
restitution,  and  compensation.  Though  they  could  not  in¬ 
flict  capital  punishments,  they  had  power  to  visit  minor 
offences  with  scourging  and  fines,  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  delinquency  and  the  amount  of  the  injury  sus¬ 
tained.! 

Of  the  former  of  these  judicial  establishments,  there  were 
two  fixed  at  Jerusalem  even  during  the  period  that  the  San¬ 
hedrim  of  Seventy  was  invested  with  the  supreme  authority 
over  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  their  countrymen,  one  of  which 

*  Deut.  xvi.  18,  19.  Joseplius’3  Antiquities,  book  iv.  8. 

t  Reland.  Antiq.  Sac.  Pars,  ii.  c.  7 

E 


50 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


sat  in  the  gate  of  Shusan,  and  the  other  in  that  of  Nicanor. 
The  place  where  these  judges  held  their  audience  was,  as 
Cardinal  Fleury  remarks,  the  gate  of  the  city ;  for  as  the 
Israelites  were  all  husbandmen  who  went  out  in  the  morning 
to  their  work,  and  did  not  return  till  the  evening,  the  gate 
of  the  city  was  the  place  where  they  most  frequently  met ; 
and  we  must  not  be  astonished  to  find  that  the  people  la¬ 
boured  in  the  fields  and  dwelt  in  the  towns.  These  were 
not  cities  like  our  provincial  capitals,  which  can  hardly  sub¬ 
sist  on  what  is  supplied  to  them  by  twenty  or  thirty  leagues 
of  the  surrounding  soil.  They  were  the  habitations  for  as 
many  labourers  as  were  necessary  to  cultivate  the  nearest 
fields  ;  hence,  as  the  country  was  very  populous,  the  towns 
were  very  thickly  scattered.  For  a  similar  reason  among 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the  scene  of  meeting  for  all  mat¬ 
ters  of  business  was  the  market-place,  or  forum,  because 
they  were  all  merchants.*  Among  the  Jews,  the  judges 
took  their  seats  immediately  after  morning  prayers,  and  con¬ 
tinued  till  the  end  of  the  sixth  hour,  or  twelve  o’clock  ;  and 
their  authority,  though  not  in  capital  cases,  continued  to  be 
respected  by  the  Israelites  long  after  Jerusalem  was  levelled 
with  the  ground. f 

With  the  aid  of  the  particulars  stated  above,  the  reader 
may  have  been  enabled  to  form  some  notion  of  the  civil  and 
political  circumstances  of  the  ancient  Hebrews.  They  en¬ 
joyed  the  utmost  degree  of  freedom  that  was  consistent  with 
the  objects  of  regular  society,  acknowledging  no  authority 
but  that  of  the  laws  as  administered  by  the  elders  of  their 
tribes  and  the  heads  of  their  families.  The  equality  of  their 
property,  too,  and  the  sameness  of  their  occupations,  pre¬ 
cluded  the  rise  of  those  distinctions  in  social  life  which, 
whatever  may  be  their  use  in  older  nations,  are  opposed  by 
all  the  habits  of  a  people  whose  sole  cares  are  yet  devoted  to 
the  culture  of  their  fields  and  the  safety  of  their  flocks.  The 
form  of  government  which  suits  best  with  such  a  distribu¬ 
tion  of  wealth  and  employment  is  unquestionably  that  which 
was  established  by  Moses  on  the  basis  of  the  ancient  patri¬ 
archal  rule.  But  it  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  this  model,  so 
convenient  in  the  earliest  stage  of  social  existence,  was 
imperceptibly  changed  by  the  increasing  power  and  intelli- 


*  Fleury,  Mceurs  des  Israelites,  xxv.  f  Lewis,  Orig.  Heb.  lib.  i.  6. 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


51 


gence  of  the  people  at  large,  until,  as  happened  towards  the 
<dose  of  Samuel’s  administration,  the  public  voice  made 
itself  be  heard,  recommending  an  entire  departure  from  ob¬ 
solete  notions.  Thus  we  find,  in  the  progress  of  the  human 
race,  that  the  simple  authority  of  the  family-chief  passes 
through  a  species  of  oligarchy  into  a  practical  democracy, 
and  ends  at  no  very  distant  period  in  the  nomination  of  an 
hereditary  sovereign. 

The  epoch  at  which  we  now  contemplate  the  Hebrew 
community  is  that  very  interesting  one  when  the  wandering 
shepherd  settles  down  into  the  stationary  husbandman. 
The  progeny  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  who  themselves 
were  pastoral  chiefs,  appear  to  have  retained  a  decided  pre¬ 
dilection  for  that  ancient  mode  of  life.  Moses,  even  after  he 
had  brought  the  twelve  tribes  within  sight  of  the  promised 
land,  found  it  necessary  to  indulge  the  families  of  Reuben, 
Gad,  and  Manasseh  so  far  as  to  give  them  the  choice  of  a 
settlement  beyond  the  Jordan,  where  they  might  devote 
themselves  to  the  keeping  of  cattle.  From  the  conduct  also 
of  the  other  tribes,  who  showed  no  small  reluctance  to  di¬ 
vide  the  land  and  enter  upon  their  several  inheritances,  it 
has  been  concluded,  with  considerable  probability,  that  they 
too  would  have  preferred  the  erratic  habits  of  their  ances¬ 
tors  to  the  more  restricted  pursuits  which  their  great  law¬ 
giver  had  prepared  for  them  amid  cornfields,  vineyards,  and 
plantations  of  olives.  “  And  Joshua  said  unto  the  children 
of  Israel,  How  long  are  ye  slack  to  go  to  possess  the  land 
which  the  Lord  God  of  your  fathers  hath  given  you  I”* 

Among  the  Arabs,  even  at  the  present  day,  the  pastoral 
life  is  accounted  more  noble  than  that  which  leads  to  a  resi¬ 
dence  in  towns,  or  even  in  villages.  They  think  it,  as  Ar- 
vieux  remarks,  more  congenial  to  liberty ;  because  the  man 
who  with  his  herds  ranges  the  desert  at  large  will  be  far 
less  likely  to  submit  to  oppression  than  people  with  houses 
and  lands.  This  mode  of  thinking  is  of  great  antiquity  in 
the  eastern  parts  of  the  world.  Diodorus  Siculus,  when 
speaking  of  the  Nabathaeans,  relates,  that  they  were  by  their 
laws  prohibited  from  sowing,  planting,  drinking  wine,  and 
building  houses  ;  every  violation  of  the  precept  being  pun- 

*  Michaelis’s  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  Moses,  art  44 ;  and 
Joshua  xviii.  3. 


52 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


ishable  with  death.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  very  sin¬ 
gular  rule  is,  their  belief  that  those  who  possess  such  things 
will  be  easily  brought  into  subjection  by  a  tyrant ;  on  which 
account  they  continue,  says  the  historian,  to  traverse  the 
desert,  feeding  their  flocks,  which  consist  partly  of  camels 
and  partly  of  sheep. 

The  fact  now  stated  receives  a  remarkable  confirmation 
from  the  notice  contained  in  the  book  of  Jeremiah  respect¬ 
ing  the  Rechabites,  who,  though  they  had  for  several  ages 
been  removed  from  Arabia  into  Palestine,  persevered  in  a 
sacred  obedience  to  the  command  of  their  ancestor,  refus¬ 
ing  to  build  houses,  sow  land,  plant  vineyards,  or  drink 
wine,  but  resolving  to  dwell  in  tents  throughout  all  their 
generations. 

In  regard  to  these  points,  the  Hebrews,  in  the  early  age 
at  which  we  are  now  considering  them,  appear  to  have  en¬ 
tertained  sentiments  not  very  different  from  those  of  the 
Arabs,  from  whose  sandy  plains  they  had  just  emerged. 
The  life  of  a  migratory  shepherd,  too,  has  a  very  close  alli¬ 
ance  with  the  habits  of  a  freebooter ;  and  the  attentive 
reader  of  the  ancient  history  of  the  Israelites  will  recollect 
many  instances  wherein  the  descendants  of  Isaac  gave  ample 
proof  of  their  relationship  to  the  posterity  of  Ishmael.  The 
character  of  Abimelech,  the  son  of  Gideon,  for  example, 
cannot  be  viewed  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a  captain 
of  marauders.  The  men  of  Shechem,  whom  he  had  hired 
to  follow  him,  refused  not  to  obey  his  commands,  even  when 
he  added  murder  to  robbery.  Jephthah,  in  like  manner, 
when  he  was  thrust  out  by  his  brethren,  became  the  chief 
of  a  band  of  freebooters  in  the  land  of  Tob.  “  And  there 
were  gathered  vain  men  to  Jephthah,  and  went  out  with 
him.”  But  the  elders  of  Gilead  did  not  on  that  account 
regard  their  brave  countryman  as  less  worthy  to  assume  the 
direction  of  their  affairs,  and  to  be  head  over  all  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  of  their  land, — an  honour  which  he  even  hesitated  to 
accept  when  compared  with  the  rank  and  emolument  of 
the  less  orderly  situation  which  they  requested  him  to  relin¬ 
quish. 

Nor  did  David  himself  think  it  unsuitable  to  his  high 
prospects  to  have  recourse  for  a  time  to  a  predatory  life. 
When  compelled  to  flee  from  the  presence  of  Saul,  he  took 
refuge  in  the  cave  of  Adullam  ;  “  and  every  one  that  was 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


53 


in  distross,  and  every  one  that  was  in  debt,  and  every  one 
that  was  discontented  gathered  themselves  unto  him,  and 
he  became  a  captain  over  them.”  It  has  been  suggested, 
indeed,  that  the  son  of  the  Bethlehemite  employed  his  arms 
against  such  persons  only  as  were  enemies  to  the  Hebrews. 
But  there  is  no  good  ground  for  this  distinction.  His  con¬ 
duct  to  Nabal,  whose  possessions  were  in  Carmel,  proves, 
that  when  his  camp  was  destitute  of  provisions  he  deemed 
it  no  violation  of  honour  to  force  a  supply  for  the  wants  of 
his  men,  even  from  the  stores  of  a  friendly  house.  We  may 
judge,  moreover,  of  the  character  of  his  followers,  as  well 
from  the  remonstrance  that  was  made  by  the  parsimonious 
rustic  to  whom  he  sent  them,  as  from  the  effect  which  a  re¬ 
fusal  produced  upon  their  ardent  tempers.  “  Who  is  Da¬ 
vid  1  and  who  is  the  son  of  Jesse  1  There  be  many  serv¬ 
ants  now-a-days  that  break  away  every  man  from  his 
master.  Shall  I  then  take  my  bread,  and  my  water,  and  my 
flesh  that  I  have  killed  for  my  shearers,  and  give  it  unto 
men  whom  I  know  not  whence  they  be] — So  David’s  young 
men  turned  their  way,  and  went  again,  and  told  him  all 
those  sayings.  And  David  said  unto  his  men,  Gird  ye  on 
every  man  his  sword.  And  they  girded  on  every  man  his 
sword,  and  David  also  girded  on  his  sword  :  and  there  went 
up  after  David  about  four  hundred  men,  and  two  hundred 
abode  f>y  the  stuff.”* 

ft  is  manifest,  that  in  the  simple  condition  of  society  to 
which  opr  attention  is  now  directed,  the  profession  of  a 
freebooter  was  not  in  any  sense  accounted  dishonourable. 
The  courage  and  dexterity  which  such  a  life  requires  stand 
high  in  the  estimation  of  tribes  who  are  almost  constantly 
in  a  state  of  war ;  and  hence,  in  reading  the  history  of  the 
ancient  Israelites,  we  must  form  an  opinion  of  their  man¬ 
ners  and  principles,  not  according  to  the  maxims  of  an  en¬ 
lightened  age,  but  agreeably  to  the  habits,  pursuits,  and 
mental  cultivation  which  belonged  to  their  own  times. 

It  is  farther  worthy  of  remark,  that  during  the  period  of 
the  Hebrew  judges  there  is  not  the  slightest  trace  of  those 
distinctions  of  rank  which  spring  from  mere  wealth,  office, 
or  profession.  From  the  princes  of  Judah  down  to  the 
meanest  family  in  Benjamin,  all  were  agriculturists  or  shep- 


*  1  Samuel  xxv.  4-14. 

E  2 


54 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


herds,  driving  their  own  oxen,  or  attending  in  person  to 
their  sheep  and  their  goats.  The  hospitable  Ephraimite, 
who  received  into  his  house  at  Gibeah  the  Levite  and  his 
unfortunate  companion,  is  described  as  “  an  old  man  coming 
from  his  work  out  of  the  field  at  even.”  Gideon,  again, 
was  thrashing  his  corn  with  his  own  hands  when  the  angel 
announced  to  him  that  he  was  selected  by  Divine  Providence 
to  be  the  deliverer  of  his  people.  Boaz  was  attending  his 
reapers  in  the  field  when  his  benevolence  was  awakened  in 
favour  of  Ruth,  the  widow  of  his  kinsman.  When  Saul 
received  the  news  of  the  danger  which  threatened  the  in- 

O  t 

habitants  of  Jabesh-gilead,  he  was  in  the  act  of  “  coming 
after  the  herd  out  of  the  field.”  Sovereign  as  he  was,  he 
thought  it  not  inconsistent  with  his  rank  to  drive  a  yoke  of 
oxen.  Every  one  knows  that  David  was  employed  in  keep¬ 
ing  the  sheep  when  he  was  summoned  into  the  presence  of 
Samuel  to  be  anointed  king  over  Israel ;  and  even  when  he 
was  upon  the  throne,  and  had  by  his  talents  and  bravery 
extended  at  once  the  power  and  the  reputation  of  his  coun¬ 
trymen  among  the  neighbouring  nations,  the  annual  occupa¬ 
tion  of  sheep-shearing  called  his  sons  and  his  daughters 
into  the  hill  country  to  take  their  share  in  its  toils  and 
amusements.  In  point  of  blood  and  ancestry,  too,  every 
descendant  of  Jacob  was  held  on  the  same  footing ;  and  the 
only  ground  of  pre-eminence  which  one  man  could  claim 
over  another  was  connected  with  old  age,  wisdom,  strength, 
or  courage, — the  qualities  most  respected  in  the  original 
forms  of  civilized  life.* 

We  have  been  the  more  careful  to  collect  these  fragments 
of  personal  history,  because  it  is  chiefly  from  them  that  the 
few  rays  of  light  are  reflected  which  illustrate  the  state  of 
society  at  the  era  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth.  That  the 
times  in  which  the  judges  ruled  were  barbarous  and  unset¬ 
tled  is  rendered  manifest,  not  less  by  the  general  tenor  of 
events,  than  by  the  qualities  which  predominated  in  the 
public  mind  during  the  long  period  that  elapsed  between 
the  death  of  Joshua  and  the  reign  of  Solomon.  These  no¬ 
tices  also  convey  to  us  some  degree  of  information,  in  regard 
to  the  political  relations  which  subsisted  among  the  Syrian 
tribes  prior  to  the  commencement  of  the  regal  government 


*  Judges  Vi.  12.  2  Samuel  xiii.  23,  24. 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


55 


at  Jerusalem.  The  wars  which  were  carried  on  at  that 
remote  epoch  seem  not  to  have  been  waged  with  any  view  to 
permanent  conquest,  or  even  to  territorial  aggrandizement, 
but  merely  to  revenge  an  insult,  to  exact  a  ransom,  or  to 
abstract  slaves  and  cattle.  The  history  of  the  judges  sup¬ 
plies  no  facts  which  would  lead  us  to  infer  that  during  any  of 
the  servitudes,  which  for  their  repeated  transgressions  were 
inflicted  on  the  Hebrews,  their  lands  were  taken  from  them, 
or  their  cities  destroyed  by  their  conquerors.  It  was  not 
till  a  later  age  that  a  more  systematic  plan  of  conquest 
was  formed  by  the  powerful  princes  who  governed  beyond 
the  Euphrates  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and  who,  not 
content  with  the  uncertain  submission  of  tributaries,  re¬ 
solved  to  reduce  the  Israelites  for  ever  to  the  condition  of 
subjects  or  of  bondmen. 

The  account  which  has  been  given  of  the  political  con¬ 
stitution  of  the  ancient  Jews  would  not  be  complete  were  we 
to  omit  all  notice  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  the  duties  and  reve¬ 
nues  of  which  were  fixed  by  peculiar  laws.  It  may,  per¬ 
haps,  be  thought  by  some  readers,  that  this  institution  rested 
on  a  basis  altogether  spiritual ;  but,  upon  suitable  inquiry, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  Levitical  offices  comprehended  a 
great  variety  of  avocations,  much  more  closely  connected 
with  secular  life  than  with  the  ministry  of  the  tabernacle, 
or  with  the  services  which  were  due  to  the  priesthood. 
This  sacred  tribe,  indeed,  supplied  to  the  whole  nation  of 
the  Israelites  their  judges,  lawyers,  scribes,  teachers,  and 
physicians ;  for  Moses,  in  imitation  of  the  Egyptians,  in 
whose  wisdom  he  was  early  and  deeply  instructed,  had 
thought  proper  to  make  the  learned  professions  hereditary 
in  the  several  families  of  Levi’s  descendants. 

We  find,  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  book  of  Numbers,  a 
command  issued  by  the  authority  of  Heaven  to  separate 
the  tribe  now  mentioned  from  the  rest  of  their  brethren, 
and  not  to  enrol  them  among  those  who  were  to  engage 
in  war.  It  was  determined,  on  similar  grounds,  that  the 
Levites  were  to  have  no  inheritance  in  the  land  like  the 
other  tribes,  but  were  to  receive  from  their  kinsmen,  in 
name  of  maintenance,  a  tenth  part  of  the  gross  produce  of 
their  fields  and  vineyards.  The  occupations  for  which  they 
were  set  apart  were  altogether  incompatible  wfith  the  pur¬ 
suits  of  agriculture  or  the  feeding  of  cattle.  It  was  deemed 


56 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


expedient,  therefore,  that  they  should  be  relieved  from  the 
cares  and  toil  connected  with  the  possession  of  territorial 
estates,  and  devote  their  whole  attention  to  the  service  of 
the  altar  and  the  instruction  of  the  people. 

To  effect  these  wise  purposes,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
members  of  this  learned  body  should  not  be  confined  to  one 
particular  district,  but  that  they  should  be  distributed  among 
all  the  other  tribes,  according  to  the  extent  of  their  several 
inheritances  and  the  amount  of  their  population.  With  this 
view  the  law  provided  that  a  certain  number  of  cities  should 
be  set  apart  for  them,  together  with  such  a  portion  of  soil 
as  might  seem  requisite  for  their  comfort  and  more  imme¬ 
diate  wants.  “  Command  the  children  of  Israel,  that  they 
give  unto  the  Levites,  of  the  inheritance  of  their  posses¬ 
sion,  cities  to  dwell  in  ;  and  ye  shall  give  unto  the  Levites 
suburbs  for  the  cities  round  about  them.  And  ye  shall 
measure  from  without  the  city,  on  the  east  side,  two  thou¬ 
sand  cubits,  and  on  the  south  side  two  thousand  cubits, 
and  on  the  west  side  two  thousand  cubits,  and  on  the  north 
side  two  thousand  cubits  ;  and  the  city  shall  be  in  the 
midst :  this  shall  be  to  them  the  suburbs  of  the  cities.  So 
all  the  cities  which  ye  shall  give  to  the  Levites  shall  be  forty 
and-eight  cities  ;  them  shall  ye  give  with  their  suburbs.”* 

It  was  not  till  after  the  conquest  and  division  of  Canaan 
that  the  provisions  of  this  enactment  were  practically  ful¬ 
filled.  When  the  other  tribes  were  settled  in  their  respect¬ 
ive  possessions,  the  children  of  Levi  reminded  Joshua  of 
the  arrangement  made  by  his  predecessor,  and  claimed  cities 
to  dwell  in,  and  suburbs  for  their  cattle.  The  justice  of 
their  appeal  being  admitted,  the  Levitical  stations  were  dis^ 
fributed  as  follows, — 


In  the  tribes  of  Judah,  Simeon,  and  Benjamin . 13 

In  Ephraim,  Dan,  and  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh,. .  10 
In  the  other  half-tribe  of  Manasseh,  Issachar,  Asher, 

and  Naphtali, . 13 

In  Zebulun,  Reuben,  and  Gad, . 12 


48 

Every  reader  of  the  Bible  is  aware,  that  six  of  these 
cities  were  invested  with  the  special  right  of  affording 


*  Numbers  xxxv.  2,  5,  7. 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH. 


57' 


refuge  and  protection  to  a  certain  class  of  criminals.  The 
Jewish  doctors  maintain  that  this  privilege,  somewhat  lim¬ 
ited,  belonged  to  all  the  forty-eight ;  for,  being  sacred,  no 
act  of  revenge  or  mortal  retaliation  was  permitted  to  take 
place  within  their  gates.  Into  the  six  cities  of  refuge,  pro¬ 
perly  so  called,  the  manslayer  could  demand  admittance, 
whether  the  Levites  were  disposed  to  receive  him  or  not ; 
and  on  the  same  ground  he  was  entitled  to  gratuitous  lodg¬ 
ing  and  maintenance,  until  his  cause  should  be  determined 
by  competent  judges.  It  is  added,  that  they  could  exercise 
a  discretionary  power  as  to  the  reception  of  a  homicide  into 
any  other  of  their  cities,  and  even  in  respect  to  the  hire 
which  they  might  demand  for  the  house  used  by  him  during 
his  temporary  residence.  But  the  institution  of  Moses,  af¬ 
terward  completed  by  Joshua,  affords  no  countenance  to 
these  rabbinical  distinctions ;  and  we  have  no  reason 
whatever  to  believe  that  the  benefit  of  asylum  was  granted 
to  any  Levitical  town  besides  Hebron,  Shechem,  Ramoth, 
Bezer,  Kedesh,  and  Golan.* 

As  learning  and  the  several  professions  connected  with 
the  knowledge  of  letters  were  confined  almost  exclusively 
to  the  tribe  of  Levi,  the  distribution  of  its  members  through¬ 
out  the  whole  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  was  attended 
with  many  advantages.  Every  Levitical  city  became  at 
once  a  school  and  a  seat  of  justice.  There  the  language, 
the  traditions,  the  history,  and  the  laws  of  their  nation 
were  the  constant  subjects  of  study,  pursued  with  that  zeal 
and  earnestness  which  can  only  arise  from  the  feeling  of  a 
sacred  obligation,  combined  with  the  impulse  of  an  ardent 
patriotism.  Within  their  walls  were  deposited  copies  of 
their  religious,  moral,  and  civil  institutions  ;  which  it  was 
their  duty  not  only  to  preserve,  but  to  multiply.  They 
kept,  besides,  the  genealogies  of  the  tribes  ;  in  which  they 
marked  the  lineage  of  every  family  who  could  trace  their 
descent  to  the  father  of  the  faithful.  Being  carefully  in¬ 
structed  in  the  law,  and  possessed  of  the  annals  of  their 
people  from  the  earliest  (lavs,  they  were  well  qualified  to 
supply  the  courts  with  magistrates  and  scribes,  men  wha 
were  fitted  not  only  to  administer  justice,  but  also  to  frame 
a  record  of  all  their  decisions.  It  is  perfectly  clear  that,  in 

*  Joshua  xx.  7,  8.  Numbers  xxxv.  6,  15.  Deut.  xix.  4,  1C 


58 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


the  reign  of  David  and  of  the  succeeding  kings,  the  judges 
and  other  legal  officers  were  selected  from  among  the  Le- 
vites  ;  there  being  in  those  days  not  fewer  than  six  thou¬ 
sand  of  this  learned  body  who  held  such  appointments. 

Michaelis  represents  the  Levitical  law  among  the  He¬ 
brews  in  the  light  of  a  literary  noblesse  ;  enjoying  such  a 
degree  of  wealth  and  consideration  as  to  enable  them  to  act 
as  a  counterpoise  to  the  influence  of  the  aristocracy ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  they  prevented  the  adoption  of  those 
hasty  measures  which  were  sometimes  to  be  apprehended 
from  the  democratical  nature  of  the  general  government. 
They  were  not  merely  a  spiritual  brotherhood,  but  profes¬ 
sional  members  of  all  the  different  faculties  ;  and  by  birth 
obliged  to  devote  themselves  to  those  branches  of  study,  for 
the  cultivation  of  which  they  were  so  liberally  rewarded. 
Like  the  Egyptian  priesthood,  they  occupied  the  whole  field 
of  literature  and  science  ;  extending  their  inquiries  to  phi¬ 
losophy,  theology,  natural  history,  mathematics,  jurispru¬ 
dence,  civil  history,  and  even  medicine.  Perhaps,  too,  it 
was  in  imitation  of  the  sages  of  the  Nile  that  the  Hebrews 
made  these  pursuits  hereditary  in  a  consecrated  tribe  ; 
whence  flowed  this  obvious  advantage,  that  the  sons  of  the 
Levites,  from  the  very  dawn  of  reason,  were  introduced  to 
scientific  researches,  and  favoured  with  a  regulated  system 
of  tuition  suited  to  the  occupation  in  which  their  lives  were 
to  be  spent.  In  short,  the  institution  bears  upon  it  all  the 
marks  of  that  wisdom  for  which  the  Mosaical  economy  is 
so  remarkably  distinguished,  when  viewed  as  the  basis  of  a 
government  at  once  civil,  religious,  and  political.* 

The  youngest  reader  of  the  Sacred  Volume  cannot  fail 
to  have  perceived,  that  the  character  and  government  of 
the  Hebrew  judges  withdraw  the  attention  from  the  ordi¬ 
nary  course  of  human  events,  and  fix  it  on  the  marvellous 
or  supernatural.  These  personages  were  raised  up  by  the 
special  providence  of  God,  to  discharge  the  duties  of  an 
office  which  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  a  chosen  people 
from  time  to  time  rendered  necessary  ;  and  the  various 
gifts  with  which  they  were  endowed,  as  they  constituted  the 
main  ground  of  vocation  to  their  high  employment,  so  were 

*  Michaelis’s  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  Moses,  vol.  i.  art.  52. 
Jablonsky  Panth.  jEgypt.  Prolegomena,  21,  41,  43. 


HEBREW  COMMONWEALTH.  59 

they  suited  to  the  difficulties  that  they  had  to  overcome, 
and  to  the  achievements  they  were  called  to  perform.  The 
sanctity  of  their  manners  did  not,  indeed,  in  all  cases  cor¬ 
respond  to  the  dignity  of  their  station  ;  and  the  miracles 
which  they  wrought  for  the  welfare  of  their  country  were 
not  always  accompanied  with  self-restraint  and  the  due  sub¬ 
ordination  of  their  passions.  Their  military  exploits  were 
worthy  of  the  highest  admiration ;  while,  in  some  instances, 
their  private  conduct  calls  forth  only  our  surprise  and  re¬ 
gret.  For  examples  of  heroism  and  bravery,  we  can  with 
confidence  point  to  Gideon,  to  Samson,  and  to  Jephthah ; 
but  there  is  not  in  their  character  anything  besides  that  a 
father  could  recommend  to  the  imitation  of  his  son,  or  that 
a  lover  of  order  and  pureness  of  living  would  wish  to  see 
adopted  in  modern  society.  We  observe,  in  the  greater 
number  of  them,  uncommon  and  even  supernatural  powers 
of  body,  as  well  as  of  mind,  united  with  the  gross  manners 
and  fierce  passions  of  barbarians.  We  applaud  their  pat¬ 
riotism,  admire  their  courage  and  talent  in  the  field,  and 
even  share  in  the  delight  which  accompanied  their  triumphs; 
yet,  when  we  return  to  their  dwellings,  we  dare  not  inspect 
too  narrowly  the  usages  of  their  domestic  day,  nor  examine 
into  the  indulgences  with  which  they  sometimes  thought 
proper  to  remunerate  the  toils  and  cares  of  their  public  life. 
Divine  Wisdom,  stooping  to  the  imperfection  of  human  na¬ 
ture,  employed  the  instruments  that  were  best  fitted  for  the 
gracious  ends  which,  by  their  means,  were  about  to  be  ac¬ 
complished  ;  though  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  in¬ 
tended  that  mankind  should  ever  resort  to  the  history  of  the 
Judges  for  lessons  of  decorum,  humanity,  or  virtue. 


60 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


CHAPTER  III. 

Historical  Oatline  from  the  Accession  of  Saul  to  the  Destruc¬ 
tion  of  Jerusalem. 

Weakness  of  Republican  Government— Jealousy  of  the  several  Tribes 
— Resolution  to  have  a  King — Rules  for  regal  Government — Character 
of  Saul— Of  David — Troubles  of  his  Reign — Accession  of  Solomon — 
Erecticin  of  the  Temple — Commerce — Murmurs  of  the  People — Reho- 
boam — Division  of  the  Tribes — Kings  of  Israel — Kingdom  of  Judah 
—Siege  of  Jerusalem— Captivity — Kings  of  Judah — Return  from 
Babylon — Second  Temple — Canon  of  Scripture — Struggles  between 
Egypt  and  Syria — Conquest  of  Palestine  by  Antiochus — Persecution 
of  Jews — Resistance  by  the  Family  of  Maccabteus — Victories  of  Judas 
— He  courts  the  Alliance  of  the  Romans — Succeeded  by  Jonathan — 
Origin  of  the  Asmonean  Princes — John  Hyrcanus— Aristobulus — 
Alexander  Jannaeus — Appeal  to  Pompey — Jerusalem  taken  by  Romans 
— Herod  created  King  by  the  Romans— He.  repairs  the  Temple— Ar- 
chelaus  succeeds  him,  and  Antipas  is  nominated  to  Galilee — Quirinius 
Prefect  of  Syria — Pontius  Pilate — Elevation  of  Herod  Agrippa — Dis¬ 
grace  of  Herod  Philip— Judea  again  a  Province — Troubles— Accession 
of  Young  Agrippa— Felix— Festus — Floris — Command  given  to  Ves¬ 
pasian— War — Siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus. 

The  weakness  and  jealousy  which  seem  inseparable  from 
a  government  comprehending  a  number  of  independent 
states,  had  been  deeply  felt  during  the  administration  of 
Eli,  and  even  under  that  of  Samuel  in  his  latter  days. 
Established  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  the  several 
tribes  were  actuated  by  local  interests  and  selfish  views  ; 
those  in  the  north,  who  were  exempted  from  the  hostile 
inroads  of  the  Philistines  and  Ammonites,  refusing  to  aid 
their  brethren,  the  children  of  Simeon  and  Judah,  whose 
territory  was  constantly  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  those 
warlike  neighbours.  In  the  time  of  the  more  recent 
judges,  the  federal  union  on  which  the  Hebrew  common¬ 
wealth  was  founded  appeared  practically  dissolved.  Nay, 
a  spirit  of  rivalry  and  dissension  occasionally  manifested 
itself  among  the  kindred  communities  of  which  it  was  com- 
posed ; — Ephraim,  stimulated  by  envy,  vexed  Judah,  and 
Judah  vexed  Ephraim  A 


*  Isaiah  xi.  13. 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  61 

Meanwhile,  several  powerful  kingdoms  in  the  east,  as 
well  as  the  south,  threatened  the  independence  of  the 
Twelve  Tribes,  especially  those  on  the  borders  of  the  desert. 
Assyria  had  already  turned  her  views  towards  the  fertile 
lands  which  skirt  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  ;  and 
Egypt,  in  order  to  protect  her  rich  valley  from  the  aggres¬ 
sions  of  that  rising  monarchy,  began  to  open  her  eyes  to 
the  expediency  of  securing  the  frontier  towns  in  the  nearest 
parts  of  Palestine.  In  a  word,  it  was  fast  becoming  mani¬ 
fest  that  the  existence  of  the  Hebrews,  as  a  free  and  dis¬ 
tinct  people,  could  only  be  secured  by  reviving  the  union 
which  had  originally  subsisted  among  their  leading  families, 
under  a  form  that  would  combine  their  physical  strength 
and  patriotism  in  the  support  of  a  common  cause.  An 
aged  priest,  although  he  might  with  the  utmost  authority 
direct  the  solemnities  of  their  national  worship,  and  even 
administer  the  laws  to  which  they  were  all  bound  to  sub¬ 
mit,  could  not  command  the  secular  obedience  of  rude 
clans,  or,  with  any  prospect  of  success,  lead  them  to  battle 
against  an  enemy  practised  in  all  the  stratagems  of  war. 
The  people,  therefore,  demanded  the  consent  of  Samuel  to 
a  change  in  the  structure  of  their  government,  that  they 
might  have  a  king,  not  only  to  preside  over  their  civil 
affairs,  but  also  to  go  out  before  them  and  fight  their  battles.* 

The  principal  reason  assigned  by  the  elders  of  Israel  for 
the  innovation  which  they  required  at  the  hands  of  then- 
ancient  prophet  was,  that  they  might  be  “  like  all  the  na¬ 
tions  evidently  alluding  to  the  advantages  of  monarchical 
power,  when  decisive  measures  become  necessary  to  defend 
the  interests  of  a  state.  It  is  remarkable  that  Moses  had 
anticipated  this  natural  result  in  the  progress  of  society, 
and  even  laid  down  rules  for  the  administration  of  the  regal 
government.  This  wise  legislator  provided  that  the  king 
of  the  Hebrews  should  not  be  a  foreigner,  lest  he  might  be 
tempted  to  sacrifice  the  interest  of  his  subjects  to  the  policy 
of  his  native  land,  and  perhaps  to  countenance  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  unauthorized  rites  into  the  worship  of  Jehovah. 
It  was  also  stipulated  that  the  sovereign  of  the  chosen 
people  should  not  multiply  horses  to  himself,  lest  he  should 
be  carried  by  his  ambition  to  make  war  in  distant  countries, 


*  1  Samuel  viii.  4-21. 

F 


62  HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 

and  neglect  the  welfare  of  the  sacred  inheritance  promised 
to  the  fathers  of  the  Jewish  nation.* 

The  qualities  which  recommended  Saul  to  the  choice  of 
Samuel  and  the  approbation  of  the  Tribes,  leave  no  room 
for  doubt  that  it  was  chiefly  as  a  military  leader  that  the 
son  of  Kish  was  raised  to  the  throne.  Nor  was  their  ex¬ 
pectation  disappointed  in  the  young  Benjaminite,  so  far  as 
courage  and  zeal  were  required  in  conducting  the  affairs 
of  war.  But  the  impetuosity  of  his  character,  and  a  cer¬ 
tain  indifference  in  regard  to  the  claims  of  the  national 
faith,  paved  the  way  for  his  downfall  and  the  extinction  of 
his  family.  The  scene  of  Gilboa,  which  terminated  the 
career  of  the  first  Hebrew  monarch,  exhibits  a  most  affect¬ 
ing  tragedy ;  in  which  the  valour  of  a  gallant  chief,  con¬ 
trasted  with  his  despair  and  sorrow,  throws  a  deceitful 
lustre  over  an  event  which  the  reader  feels  that  he  ought 
to  condemn. 

David,  to  the  skill  of  an  experienced  warrior,  added  a 
deep  reverence  for  the  institutions  of  his  country  and  the 
forms  of  Divine  worship  ;  whence  he  procured  the  high 
distinction  of  being  a  man  after  God’s  own  heart.  To  this 
celebrated  king  was  reserved  the  honour  of  taking  from  the 
Jebusites  a  strong  fortress  on  the  borders  of  Judah  and 
Benjamin,  and  of  laying  the  foundations  of  Jerusalem, 
viewed,  at  least,  as  the  metropolis  of  Palestine  and  the  seat 
of  the  Hebrew  government.  On  Mount  Zion  he  built  a 
suburb  of  considerable  beauty  and  strength,  which  con¬ 
tinued  for  many  years  to  bear  his  name,  and  to  reflect  the 
magnificence  of  his  genius.  Not  satisfied  with  this  acqui¬ 
sition,  he  extended  his  arms  on  all  sides,  till  the  borders 
of  his  kingdom  touched  the  western  bank  of  the  Euphrates 
and  the  neighbourhood  of  Damascus.  He  likewise  de¬ 
feated  the  Philistines,  those  restless  enemies  of  the  southern 
tribes,  and  added  their  dominions  to  the  crown  of  Israel. 
The  Moabites,  who  had  provoked  his  resentment,  were 
subjected  to  military  execution,  and  deprived  of  a  large 
portion  of  their  land  ;  an  example  of  severity  which,  so 
far  from  intimidating  the  children  of  Ammon,  only  provoked 
them  to  try  the  fortune  of  war  against  the  victorious  mon¬ 
arch.  David  despatched  an  army  under  the  comm'nd  of 


*  Deut.  xvii.  14-20. 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  63 


the  irascible  Joab,  who,  after  worsting  them  in  the  held, 
inflicted  a  tremendous  chastisement  upon  the  followers  of 
Hanun,  for  having  studiously  insulted  the  ambassadors  of 
his  master.* 

But  the  splendour  of  this  reign  was  afterward  clouded 
by  domestic  guilt  and  treason ;  and  the  nation,  which 
could  now  have  defied  the  power  of  its  bitterest  enemies, 
was  divided  and  rendered  miserable  by  the  foul  passions 
that  issued  from  the  royal  palace.  Still,  notwithstanding 
the  rebellion  of  Absalom,  and  the  defection  of  certain  mili¬ 
tary  leaders,  David  bequeathed  to  his  successor  a  flourish¬ 
ing  kingdom  ;  rapidly  advancing  in  the  arts  of  civilized 
life,  enjoying  an  advantageous  commerce,  the  respect  of 
neighbouring  states,  and  a  decided  preponderance  among 
the  minor  governments  of  Western  Asia.  His  last  years 
were  spent  in  making  preparations  for  the  building  of  a 
temple  at  Jerusalem, — a  work  that  he  himself  was  not 
allowed  to  accomplish,  because  his  hands  were  stained  with 
blood,  which,  however  justly  shed,  rendered  them  unfit  for 
erecting  an  edifice  to  the  God  of  mercy  and  peace.! 

The  success  which  had  attended  the  arms  of  his  father 
rendered  the  accession  of  Solomon  tranquil  and  secure,  so 
far,  at  least,  as  we  consider  the  designs  of  the  surrounding 
nations.  Accordingly,  finding  himself  in  possession  of 
quiet  as  well  as  of  an  overflowing  treasury,  he  proceeded 
to  realize  the  pious  intentions  of  David  in  regard  to  the 
house  of  God,  and  thereby  to  obey  the  last  commands 
which  had  been  imposed  upon  him  before  he  had  received 
the  crown.  The  chief  glory  of  Solomon’s  administration 
is  identified  with  the  erection  of  the  Temple.  Nor  were 
the  advantages  arising  from  this  great  undertaking  confined 
to  the  spiritual  objects  to  which  it  was  principally  subser¬ 
vient.  On  the  contrary,  the  necessity  of  employing  foreign 
artists,  and  of  drawing  part  of  his  materials  from  a  distance, 
suggested  to  the  king  the  benefits  of  a  regular  trade  ;  and 
as  the  plains  of  Syria  produced  more  corn  than  the  natives 
could  consume,  he  supplied  the  merchants  of  Tyre  and 
the  adjoining  ports  with  a  valuable  commodity,  in  return 
for  the  manufactured  goods  which  his  own  subjects  could 

*  2  Samuel  viii.  1,  2.  I  Chron.  xviii.  1,2;  xix.  1-20. 

!  1  Chron.  xxii.  8. 


64 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


not  fabricate.  It  was  in  his  reign  that  the  Hebrews  first 
became  a  commercial  people  ;  and  although  we  must  admit 
that  considerable  obscurity  still  hangs  over  the  tracks  of 
navigation  which  were  pursued  by  the  mariners  of  Solomon, 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  his  ships  were  to  be  seen 
on  the  Mediterranean,  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  Persian 
Gulf.* 

But  the  popularity  of  his  government  did  not  keep  pace 
with  the  rapidity  of  his  improvements  or  the  magnificence 
of  his  works.  Perhaps  the  vast  extent  of  his  undertakings 
may  have  led  to  unusual  demands  upon  the  industry  of 
his  people,  and  given  occasion  to  those  murmurs  which 
could  hardly  be  repressed  even  within  the  precincts  of  the 
court.  Like  his  predecessor,  too,  he  occasionally  failed  to 
illustrate,  in  his  own  conduct,  the  excellent  precepts  that 
he  propounded  for  the  direction  of  others  ;  and  towards  the 
close  of  his  life,  particularly,  the  wisdom  of  his  moral  les¬ 
sons  was  strangely  contrasted  with  the  practical  follies 
which  stand  recorded  against  him  in  the  inspired  narrative. 
He  totally  disregarded  the  leading  principles  of  the  consti¬ 
tution  constructed  by  Moses  and  left  for  the  guidance  of  all 
Hebrew  kings  ;  not  only  multiplying  horses  even  to  the 
extent  of  maintaining  a  large  body  of  cavalry,  and  marry¬ 
ing  many  wives  who  turned  away  his  heart,  but  proceeding 
so  far  as  to  give  his  countenance  to  idolatrous  worship 
within  sight  of  the  very  Temple  which  he  had  conse 
crated  to  Jehovah,  the  God  of  all  the  earth. f 

It  was  in  this  reign  that  the  limits  of  Jewish  power 
attained  their  utmost  reach,  comprehending  even  the  re¬ 
markable  district  of  Palmyrene,  a  spacious  and  fertile 
province  in  the  midst  of  a  frightful  desert.  There  were  in 
it  two  principal  towns,  Thapsacus  and  Palmyra,  from  the 
latter  of  which  the  whole  country  took  its  name.  Solomon, 
it  is  well  known,  took  pleasure  in  adding  to  its  beauty  and 
strength,  as  being  one  of  his  main  defences  on  the  eastern 
border;  and  hence  it  is  spoken  of  in  Scripture  as  Tadmor 
in  the  wilderness.  Josephus  calls  it  Thadamor  ;  the 
Seventy  recognise  it  under  the  name  of  Theodmor  and 
Thedmor  ;  while  the  Arabs  and  Syrians  at  the  present  day 
keep  alive  the  remembrance  of  its  ancient  glory  as  Tadmor, 


*  2  Chron.  ii.  and  ix.  throughout. 


1 1  Kings  xi.  1-8. 


wmwwf  ■  I 

TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  65 

Tadmier,  and  Tatmor.  But  of  Solomon’s  labours  not  one 
vestige  now  remains.  The  inhabitants  having  revolted  from 
the  Emperor  Aurelian,  and  pledged  their  faith  to  an  adven¬ 
turer  called  Antiochus,  or  Achilles,  who  had  assumed  the 
purple,  this  splendid  town  was  attacked  and  razed  to  the 
ground.  Repenting  of  his  hasty  determination,  he  Roman 
prince  gave  orders  that  Palmyra  should  be  immediately 
rebuilt  ;  but  so  inefficient  were  the  measures  which  he 
adopted,  or  so  imperfectly  was  he  obeyed  in  their  execution, 
that  the  city  in  the  desert  has  ever  since  been  remarkable 
only  as  a  heap  of  magnificent  ruins.  The  first  object  that 
now  presents  itself  to  the  traveller  who  approaches  this 
forlorn  place,  is  a  castle  of  mean  architecture  and  uncertain 
origin,  about  half  an  hour’s  walk  from  it,  on  the  north  side. 

“From  thence,”  says  Mr.  Maundrell,  “we  descry  Tadmor, 
enclosed  on  three  sides  by  long  ridges  of  mountains  ;  but 
to  the  south  is  a  vast  plain  which  bounds  the  visible  horizon. 

The  barren  soil  presents  nothing  green  but  a  few  palm 
trees.  The  city  must  have  been  of  large  extent,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  space  now  taken  up  by  the  ruins  ;  but  as 
there  are  no  traces  of  its  walls,  its  real  dimensions  and  form 
remain  equally  unknown.  It  is  now  a  deplorable  spectacle, 
inhabited  by  thirty  or  forty  miserable  families,  who  have 
built  huts  of  mud  within  a  spacious  court  which  once  en¬ 
closed  a  magnificent  heathen  temple.”* 

The  despotism  exercised  by  Solomon  created  a  strong 
reaction,  which  was  immediately  felt  on  the  accession  of  his 
son  Rehoboam.  This  prince,  rejecting  the  advice  of  his 
aged  counsellors,  and  following  that  of  the  younger  and 
more  violent,  soon  had  the  misfortune  to  see  the  greater 
part  of  his  kingdom  wrested  from  him.  In  reply  to  the 
address  of  his  people,  who  entreated  an  alleviation  of  their 
burdens,  he  declared,  that  instead  of  requiring  less  at  their 
hands  he  should  demand  more.  “  My  father  made  your 
yoke  heavy,  I  will  add  to  your  yoke  ;  my  father  chastised 
you  with  whips,  but  I  will  chastise  you  with  scorpions.” 

Such  a  resolution,  expressed  in  language  at  once  so  con¬ 
temptuous  and  severe,  alienated  from  his  government  ten 
tribes,  who  sought  a  more  indulgent  master  in  Jeroboam,  a 
declared  enemy  of  the  house  of  David.  Hence  the  origin 

m 

*  Maundrell’s  Journey  from  Aleppo  to  Jerusalem  in  1697. 

F  2 


66 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


of  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  as  distinguished  from  that  of 
Judah  ;  and  hence,  too,  the  disgraceful  contentions  between 
these  kindred  states,  which  acknowledged  one  religion,  and 
professed  to  be  guided  by  the  same  law.  Arms  and  nego¬ 
tiation  proved  equally  unavailing,  in  repeated  attempts 
which  were  made  to  reunite  the  Hebrews  under  one  sceptre ; 
till,  at  length,  about  two  hundred  and  seventy  years  after 
the  death  of  Solomon,  the  younger  people  were  subdued  by 
Shalmaneser,  the  powerful  monarch  of  Assyria,  who  carried 
them  away  captive  into  the  remoter  provinces  of  his  vast 
empire.* 

Our  plan  does  not  admit  a  minuter  detail  of  the  sacred 
history  than  may  be  readily  found  in  the  pages  of  the  Old 
Testament.  Suffice  it  therefore  to  observe,  that  Jerusalem 
soon  ceased  to  be  regarded  by  the  Israelites  as  the  centre 
of  their  religion,  and  the  bond  of  union  among  the  descend¬ 
ants  of  Abraham. 

Jeroboam  had  erected  in  his  kingdom  the  emblems  of  a 
less  pure  faith,  to  which  he  confined  the  attention  of  his 
subjects ;  while  the  frequent  wars  that  ensued,  and  the 
treaties  formed  on  either  side  with  the  Gentile  nations  on 
their  respective  borders,  soon  completed  the  estrangement 
which  ambition  had  begun.  Little  attached  to  the  native 
line  of  princes,  the  Israelites  placed  on  the  throne  of  Sa¬ 
maria  a  number  of  adventurers,  who  had  no  qualities  to 
recommend  them  besides  military  courage  and  an  irrecon¬ 
cilable  hatred  towards  the  more  legitimate  claimants  of  the 
house  of  David.  The  following  list  will  give  a  condensed 
view  of  the  names,  the  order,  and  the  length  of  the  reigns 
which  belong  to  the  sovereigns  of  Israel,  from  the  demise 
of  Solomon  down  to  the  extinction  of  their  kingdom  by  the 
arms  of  Assyria : — 

Years.  B.  C. 


1.  Jeroboam  . 22  990 

2.  Nadad  .  2  968 

3.  Baasha  . 23  966 

4.  Ela .  1  943 

5.  Zimri  and  Omri  . 11  942 

6.  Ahab  . 22  931 

7.  Abaziah .  2  909 

8.  Jehoram  or  Joram  . 12  907 

9.  Jehu . 28  895 


*  2  Kings  xvii.  1-7. 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


67 


Years.  B.  C. 


10.  Jehoahaz . 17  867 

11.  Jehoash  or  Joash . 16  850 

12.  Jeroboam  II.  . 41  834 

1st  Interregnum  . 22  793 

13.  Zechariah  and  Shallum .  1  771 

14.  Menabem  . 10  770 

15.  Pekahiah  .  2  760 

16.  Pekah  . 20  758 

2d  Interregnum . 10  738 

17.  Hoshea . 9  728 


Samaria  taken 


271  719 


It  appears  to  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the  greater  num¬ 
ber  of  commentators,  that  the  separation  of  interests,  which 
in  the  days  of  Rehoboam  produced  a  permanent  division  of 
the  tribes,  had  manifested  itself  at  a  much  earlier  period. 
In  truth,  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  the  union  and 
co-operation  between  the  northern  and  the  southern  com¬ 
munities,  which  was  meant  to  be  accomplished  by  the  in¬ 
stitution  of  monarchy,  were  ever  cordial  or  efficient.  There 
is  no  doubt,  at  least,  that  the  two  parties  differed  essentially 
in  their  choice  of  a  successor  to  Saul ;  for,  while  the  people 
of  Judah  invited  David  to  the  supreme  power  as  their 
anointed  sovereign,  the  suffrages  of  Israel  were  unanimous 
in  favour  of  Ishbosheth,  the  son  of  the  deceased  king.  We 
may  therefore  conclude,  that  the  exactions  of  Solomon  were 
the  pretext  rather  than  the  true  cause  of  the  unfortunate 
dismemberment  of  the  Hebrew  confederation,  which  in  the 
end  conducted  both  sections  of  it  by  gradual  steps  to  defeat 
and  captivity. 

The  kingdom  of  Judah,  less  distracted  by  the  pretensions 
of  usurpers,  and  being  confirmed  in  the  principles  of  pa¬ 
triotism  by  a  more  rigid  adherence  to  the  law  of  Moses, 
continued  during  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  to  resist 
the  encroachments  of  the  two  rival  powers,  Egypt  and 
Assyria,  which  now  began  to  contend  in  earnest  for  the 
possession  of  Palestine.  Several  endeavours  were  made, 
even  after  the  destruction  of  Samaria,  to  unite  the  energies 
of  the  Twelve  Tribes,  and  thereby  to  secure  the  indepen¬ 
dence  of  the  sacred  territory  a  little  longer.  But  a  pitiful 
jealousy  had  succeeded  to  the  aversion  generated  by  a  long 
course  of  hostile  aggression  ;  while  the  overwhelming  hosts, 
which  incessantly  issued  from  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile 


68 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


to  select  a  field  of  battle  within  the  borders  of  Canaan,  soon 
left  to  the  feeble  councils  of  Jerusalem  no  other  choice  than 
that  of  an  Egyptian  or  an  Assyrian  master. 

In  the  year  six  hundred  and  two  before  the  Christian 
era,  when  Jehoiakim  was  on  the  throne  of  Judah,  Nebu¬ 
chadnezzar,  who  already  shared  with  his  father  the  govern* 
ment  of  Assyria,  advanced  into  Palestine  at  the  head  of  a 
formidable  army.  A  timely  submission  saved  the  city  as 
well  as  the  life  of  the  pusillanimous  monarch.  But  after  a 
short  period,  finding  the  conqueror  engaged  in  more  im¬ 
portant  affairs,  the  vanquished  king  made  an  effort  to 
recover  his  dominions  by  throwing  off  the  Babylonian  yoke. 
The  siege  of  Jerusalem  was  renewed  with  greater  vigour 
on  the  part  of  the  invaders,  in  the  course  of  which  Jehoia¬ 
kim  was  killed,  and  his  son  Coniah  ascended  the  throne. 
Scarcely,  however,  had  the  new  sovereign  taken  up  the 
reigns  of  government,  when  he  found  it  necessary  to  open 
the  gates  of  his  capital  to  the  Assyrian  prince,  who  carried 
him,  his  principal  nobility,  and  the  most  expert  of  his  arti¬ 
sans,  as  prisoners  to  the  banks  of  the  Tigris. 

The  nominal  authority  was  now  confided  to  a  brother 
or  uncle  of  the  captive  king,  whose  original  name,  Matta- 
niah,  was  changed  to  Zedekiah  by  his  lord  paramount,  who 
considered  him  merely  as  the  governor  of  a  province.  Im¬ 
patient  of  an  office  so  subordinate,  and  instigated,  it  is 
probable,  by  the  emissaries  of  Egypt,  he  resolved  to  hazard 
his  life  and  liberty  for  the  chance  of  reconquering  the  inde¬ 
pendence  of  his  crown.  This  imprudent  step  brought 
Nebuchadnezzar  once  more  before  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 
A  siege,  which  appears  to  have  continued  fifteen  or  sixteen 
months,"  terminated  in  the  final  reduction  of  the  holy  city, 
and  in  the  captivity  of  Zedekiah,  who  was  treated  with  the 
utmost  severity.  His  two  sons  were  executed  in  his  pres¬ 
ence,  after  which  his  eyes  were  put  out ;  when,  being 
loaded  with  fetters,  he  was  carried  to  Babylon  and  thrown 
into  prison. 

The  work  of  demolition  was  intrusted  to  Nebuzar-adan, 
the  captain  of  the  guard,  who  “  burnt  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
and  the  king’s  house,  and  all  the  houses  of  Jerusalem,  and 
every  great  man’s  house  burnt  he  with  fire.  And  the  army 
of  the  Chaldees  that  were  with  the  captain  of  the  guard 
brake  down  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  round  about.  The  rest 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  69 


of  the  people  that  were  left  in  the  city,  and  the  fugitives 
that  fell  away  to  the  King  of  Babylon,  with  the  remnant 
of  the  multitude,  did  the  captain  of  the  guard  carry  away. 
But  he  left  the  poor  of  the  land  to  be  vine-dressers  and  hus¬ 
bandmen.”* 

The  kings  who  reigned  over  Judah  from  the  demise  of 
Solomon  to  the  destruction  of  the  first  temple  are  as  fol¬ 
lows  : — 

Tears.  B.C. 


1.  Rehoboam .  17  990 

2.  Abijah . . .  3  973 

•)  ...  41  970 

4.  Jehosliaphat ’ .’ .* .* . 25  929 

5.  Jehoram  or  Joram .  8  904 

6.  Ahaziah .  1  896 

7  Queen  Athaliah .  6  895 

8.  Joash  or  Jehoash .  40  889 

9.  Amaziah .  29  849 

Interregnum .  11  820 

10.  Uzziah  or  Azariah .  52  809 

11.  Jotham .  16  757 

12.  Ahaz  . * .  16  741 

13.  Hezekiab .  29  725 

14.  Manasseh .  55  696 

15.  Amor .  2  641 

16.  Josiah .  31  639 

17.  Jehoahaz .  3  months 

18.  Jehoiakim .  11  608 

19.  Coniali  or  Jehoiachin .  3  months 

20.  Zedekiah .  11  597 

Jerusalem  taken . . 404  586 


The  desolation  inflicted  upon  Jerusalem  by  the  hands  of 
her  enemies  excited  the  deepest  sorrow,  and  gave  rise  to 
the  most  gloomy  apprehensions  in  regard  to  the  future. 
Considering  themselves  under  the  special  protection  of  Je¬ 
hovah,  the  inhabitants  could  not  by  any  means  be  induced 
to  believe  that  the  throne  of  David  would  be  overturned  by 
the  armies  of  the  heathen.  It  was  in  vain  that  Jeremiah, 
at  the  imminent  peril  of  his  life,  announced  the  approach¬ 
ing  judgment,  assuring  the  monarch  and  his  princes  that 
the  King  of  Babylon  would  certainly  besiege  and  lay  waste 
their  holy  city,  unless  the  evil  were  averted  by  an  imme¬ 
diate  change  of  manners.  All  his  remonstrances  were 
treated  with  contempt ;  and  at  length  the  prophet  had  to 


*  2  Kings  xxv.  4-13 


70 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


bewail  the  misery  which  thus  overtook  his  people,  and  the 
varied  sufferings,  the  contumely,  and  the  degradation,  which 
they  were  doomed  to  endure  in  the  land  of  their  conquerers. 
“  How  doth  the  city  sit  solitary  that  was  full  of  people  ! 
How  is  she  become  as  a  widow !  She  that  was  great  among 
the  nations,  and  princess  among  the  provinces,  is  become 
tributary  !  She  weepeth  sore  in  the  night,  and  her  tears 
are  on  her  cheeks!  Judah  is  gone  into  captivity;  she 
dwelleth  among  the  heathen,  she  findeth  no  rest.”* 

These  sentiments,  although  applied  to  a  later  period,  are 
beautifully  expressed  by  a  modern  poet,  to  whom  was 
granted  no  small  share  of  the  pathetic  eloquence  of  the  pro¬ 
phetic  bard  whose  words  have  just  been  quoted. 

I‘  Reft  of  thy  sons,  amid  thy  foes  forlorn, 

Mourn,  widowed  Queen,  forgotten  Sion,  mount ! 

Is  this  thy  place,  sad  city,  this  thy  throne, 

Where  the  wild  desert  rears  its  craggy  stone, 

While  suns  unbless’d  their  angry  lustre  fling, 

And  wayworn  pilgrims  seek  the  scanty  spring  ? 

Where  now  thy  pomp  which  kings  with  envy  viewed ; 

Where  now  thy  might  which  all  those  kings  subdued  ? 

No  martial  myriads  muster  in  thy  gate ; 

No  suppliant  nations  in  thy  Temple  wait ; 

No  prophet  bards,  thy  glittering  courts  among, 

Wake  the  full  lyre,  and  swell  the  tide  of  song. 

But  lawless  Force  and  meager  Want  are  there, 

And  the  quick-darting  eye  of  restless  Fear; 

While  cold  Oblivion,  ’mid  thy  ruins  laid, 

Folds  bis  dark  wing  beneath  the  ivy  shade.”t 

The  seventy  years  which  were  determined  concerning 
Jerusalem  began,  not  at  the  demolition  of  the  city  by  Nebu- 
zar-adan,  the  captain  of  the  guard,  but  at  the  date  of  the 
former  invasion  by  his  master,  in  the  reign  of  Jehoiakim, 
when  the  Assyrians  carried  away  some  of  the  princes,  and 
among  others  Daniel  and  his  celebrated  companions,  as 
captives,  or  perhaps  as  hostages  for  the  good  conduct  of  the 
king.  The  event  now  alluded  to  took  place  exactly  six 
centuries  before  the  Christian  era ;  and  hence  the  return 
of  the  Jews  to  the  Holy  Land  must  have  occurred  about 
the  year  530  prior  to  the  same  great  epoch.  But  as  their 
migration  homeward  was  gradually  accomplished  under 
different  leaders,  and  with  various  objects  in  view,  their 


*  Lamentations  i.  1-4. 


t  Heber’s  Palestine. 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


71 


historians  have  not  thought  it  necessa  ry  to  enter  into  par¬ 
ticulars  ;  and  hence  has  arisen  a  cert  ain  obscurity  in  the 
ealculations  of  divines  respecting  the  commencement,  the 
duration,  and  the  end  of  the  Babylonian  captivity. 

The  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  who  now  consti¬ 
tuted  the  whole  Jewish  nation,  brought  back  with  them  to 
Palestine  the  ancient  spirit  of  hostility  towards  the  Israel- 
itish  kingdom,  the  people  of  which  they  were  pleased  to' 
class  under  the  general  denomination  of  Samaritans,  an  im¬ 
pure  race,  descended  from  the  eastern  colonists  sent  by 
Shalmaneser  to  replace  the  Hebrew  captives  whom  he  re¬ 
moved  to  Halah  and  Habor  and  the  cities  of  the  Medes.  In 
this  way  they  roused  an  opposition,  and  created  difficulties, 
which  otherwise  they  might  not  have  experienced  during 
their  erection  of  the  second  Temple.  The  countenance  of 
the  Persian  court  itself  was  occasionally  withdrawn  from 
men,  who  appeared  to  acknowledge  no  affinity  with  any 
Other  order  of  human  beings,  anti  who  seemed  determined 
to  exclude  from  their  country,  as  wrell  as  from  their  religious 
rites  and  privileges,  all  who  could  not  establish  an  immacu¬ 
late  descent  from  the  father  of  the  faithful.  For  this 
reason,  the  sympathy  which  is  so  naturally  excited  in  the 
breast  of  the  reader  in  behalf  of  the  weary  exiles,  who  sat 
down  and  wept  by  the  waters  of  Babylon  with  their 
thoughts  fixed  on  Zion,  is  very  apt  to  be  extinguished  when 
he  contemplates  the  bitter  enmity  with  which  they  rejected 
the  kind  offices  of  their  ancient  brethren  amid  the  ruins  of 
their  metropolis. 

The  names  of  Zerubbabel,  Neheminh,  and  Ezra  occupy 
the  most  distinguished  place  among  those  worthies  who 
were  selected  by  Divine  Providence  to  conduct  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  the  chosen  people.  After  much  toil,  interruption, 
and  alarm,  Jerusalem  could  once  more  boast  of  a  temple 
which,  although  destitute  of  the  rich  ornaments  lavished 
upon  that  of  Solomon,  was  at  least  of  equal  dimensions, 
and  erected  on  the  same  consecrated  ground.  But  the  wor¬ 
shipper  had  to-deplore  the  absence  of  the  Ark,  the  symbol¬ 
ical  Urim  and  Thummim,  the  Shechinah  or  Divine  Pres¬ 
ence,  and  the  celestial  fire  which  had  maintained  an  un¬ 
ceasing  flame  upon  the  altar.  Their  Sacred  Writings,  too, 
had  been  dispersed,  and  their  ancient  language  wras  fast 
becoming  obsolete.  To  prevent  the  extension  of  so  great 


72 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


an  evil,  the  more  valuable  manuscripts  were  collected  and 
arranged,  containing  the  Law,  the  earlier  Prophets,  and  the 
inspired  Hymns  used  for  the  purpose  of  devotion.  Some 
compositions,  however,  which  respected  the  remotest  pe¬ 
riod  of  their  commonwealth,  especially  the  Book  of  Jasher 
and  the  Wars  of  the  Lord,  were  irretrievably  lost. 

Under  the  Persian  satraps,  who  directed  the  civil  and 
military  government  of  Syria,  the  Jews  were  permitted  to 
acknowledge  the  authority  of  their  own  high-priest,  to 
whom,  in  all  things  pertaining  to  the  law  of  Moses,  they 
rendered  the  obedience  which  was  due  to  the  head  of  their 
nation.  Their  prosperity,  it  is  true,  was  occasionally  di¬ 
minished  or  increased  by  the  personal  character  of  the  sove¬ 
reigns  who  successively  occupied  the  throne  of  Cyrus  ;  but 
no  material  change  in  their  circumstances  took  place  until 
the  victories  of  Alexander  the  Great  had  laid  the  founda¬ 
tions  of  the  Syro-Macedonian  kingdom  in  Western  Asia, 
and  given  a  new  dynasty  to  the  crown  of  Egypt.  The 
struggles  which  ensued  between  these  powerful  states  fre¬ 
quently  involved  the  interests  of  the  Jews,  and  made  new 
demands  upon  their  allegiance  ;  although  it  is  admitted, 
that  as  each  was  desirous  to  conciliate  a  people  who 
claimed  Palestine  for  their  unalienable  heritage,  the  He- 
brews  at  large  were,  during  two  centuries,  treated  with 
much  liberality  and  favour.  But  this  generosity  or  forbear¬ 
ance  was  interrupted  in  the  reign  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
who,  alarmed  bv  the  report  of  insurrections,  and  harassed 
by  the  events  of  an  unsuccessful  war  in  Egypt,  directed 
his  angry  passions  against  the  Jews.  Marching  at  the  head 
of  a  large  force,  he  attacked  Jerusalem  so  suddenly  that  no 
means  of  defence  could  be  used,  and  hardly  any  resistance 
attempted.  Forty  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  were  put  to 
death,  and  an  equal  number  condemned  to  slavery.  Not 
satisfied  with  this  punishment,  he  proceeded  to  measures 
still  more  appalling  in  the  eyes  of  a  Jew.  He  entered  the 
Temple,  pillaged  the  treasury,  seized  all  the  sacred  utensils, 
the  golden  candlestick,  the  table  of  shew-bread,  and  the 
altar  of  incense.  He  then  commanded  a  great  sow  to  be 
sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  burnt-offerings,  part  of  the  flesh 
to  be  boiled,  and  the  liquor  from  this  unclean  animal  to  be 
sprinkled  over  every  part  of  the  sacred  edifice  ;  thus  pol¬ 
luting  with  the  most  odious  defilement  even  the  Holy 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  73 


of  Holies,  which  no  human  eye,  save  that  of  the  high-priest, 
was  ever  permitted  to  behold. 

A  short  time  afterward,  being  the  year  168  before  the 
epoch  of  Redemption,  he  issued  an  edict  for  the  extermina¬ 
tion  of  the  whole  Hebrew  race,  against  whom  he  had  again 
conceived  a  furious  dislike.  This  commission  was  intrusted 
to  Apollonius, — an  instrument  worthy  of  so  sanguinary  a 
tyrant, — who,  waiting  till  the  Sabbath,  when  the  people 
were  occupied  in  the  peaceful  duties  of  religion,  let  loose 
his  soldiers  upon  the  unresisting  multitude,  slew  all  the 
men,  whose  blood  deluged  the  streets,  and  seized  the  women 
as  captives.  He  first  proceeded  to  plunder  and  then  to 
dismantle  the  city,  which  he  set  on  fire  in  many  places.  He 
threw  down  the  walls,  and  built  a  strong  fortress  on  the 
highest  part  of  Mount  Sion,  which  commanded  the  Temple 
and  all  the  adjoining  parts  of  the  town.  From  this  garri¬ 
son  he  harassed  the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  who,  with 
fond  attachment,  stole  in  to  visit  the  ruins,  or  to  offer  a 
hasty  and  perilous  worship  in  the  place  where  their  sanc¬ 
tuary  had  stood.  All  the  public  services  had  ceased,  and 
no  voice  of  adoration  was  heard  within  the  holy  gates,  ex¬ 
cept  that  of  the  profane  heathen  calling  on  their  idols.* 
But  the  persecution  did  not  end  even  with  these  furious 
expedients.  Antiochus  next  issued  an  order  for  uniformity 
of  worship  throughout  all  his  dominions,  and  sent  officers 
everywhere  to  enforce  the  strictest  compliance.  In  the 
districts  of  Judea  and  Samaria,  this  invidious  duty  was  in¬ 
trusted  to  Athenseus,  an  old  man,  whose  chief  recommend¬ 
ation  appears  to  have  been  his  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  doctrines  and  usages  of  the  Grecian  religion.  The 
Samaritans  are  said  to  have  conformed  without  scruple,  and 
even  to  have  permitted  their  temple  on  Mount  Gerizim  to  be 
regularly  dedicated  to  Jupiter,  in  his  character  of  the 
Stranger’s  Friend.  Having  so  far  succeeded,  the  royal  en¬ 
voy  turned  his  steps  to  Jerusalem,  where,  at  the  point  of  the 
sword,  he  prohibited  every  observance  connected  with  the 
Jewish  faith ;  compelling  the  people  to  profane  the  Sab¬ 
bath,  to  eat  swine’s  flesh,  and  to  abstain,  under  a  severe 
penalty,  from  the  national  rite  of  circumcision.  The  Tem¬ 
ple  was  consigned  by  consecration  to  the  ceremonies  of 

*  History  of  the  Jews  (Nos.  1,  2,  3,  Family  Library),  vol.  ii.  p.  39. 

G 


74 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


Jupiter  Olympius ;  while  the  statue  of  that  deity  was 
erected  on  the  altar  of  burnt-olferings,  and  sacrifice  duly 
performed  in  his  name.  Two  women,  who  had  the  initiatory 
ordinance  enjoined  by  the  Mosaical  law  performed  on  their 
children,  were  hanged  in  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  city  with 
their  infants  suspended  round  their  necks  ;  and  many  other 
cruelties  were  perpetrated,  the  very  atrocity  of  which  pre¬ 
cludes  them  at  once  from  popular  belief  and  from  the  pages 
of  history.  Neither  age,  nor  sex,  nor  profession  saved  the 
proscribed  Jew  from  the  horrors  of  a  violent  death.  From 
Jerusalem,  too,  the  persecution  spread  over  the  whole  coun-- 
try ;  in  every  city  the  same  barbarities  were  executed  and 
the  same  profanations  introduced.  As  a  last  insult,  the 
feasts  of  the  Bacchanalia,  the  license  of  which,  as  they  were 
celebrated  in  the  later  ages  of  Greece,  shocked  the  severe 
virtue  of  the  older  Romans,  were  substituted  for  the  na¬ 
tional  festival  of  tabernacles.  The  reluctant  Hebrews  were 
forced  to  join  in  these  riotous  orgies,  and  carry  the  ivy,  the 
insignia  of  the  god.  So  nearly  were  the  Jewish  nation  and 
the  worship  of  Jehovah  exterminated  by  the  double  weapons 
of  superstition  and  violence  !* 

But  this  savage  intolerance  produced  in  due  time  a  formi¬ 
dable  opposition.  To  a  sincere  believer  death  has  always 
appeared  a  smaller  evil  than  the  relinquishment  of  his 
faith ;  and,  in  this  respect,  no  people  ancient  or  modem 
have  shown  more  resolution  than  the  descendants  of  Abra¬ 
ham.  The  severities  of  Antiochus,  which  had  inflamed  the 
resentment  of  the  whole  Jewish  people,  called  forth  in  a 
hostile  attitude  the  brave  family  of  the  Maccabees,  whose 
valour  and  perseverance  enabled  them  to  dispute  with  the 
powerful  monarch  of  Syria  the  sovereignty  of  Palestine. 
Judas,  the  ablest  and  most  gallant  of  five  sons,  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  insurgents,  whose  zeal,  more  than  com¬ 
pensating  for  the  smallness  of  their  numbers,  carried  him  to 
victory  against  large  armies  and  experienced  generals. 
Making  every  allowance  for  the  enthusiastic  description 
of  an  admiring  countryman,  who  has  recorded-  the  exploits 
of  the  Maccabsean  chiefs,  there  will  still  remain  the  most 
ample  evidence  to  satisfy  every  candid  reader,  that  in  all  the 


*  History  of  the  Jews,  vol.  ii.  p.  40. 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  75 

great  battles  the  fortune  of  war  followed  the  standard  of  the 
Jews. 

But  the  victorious  Maccabees,  who  had  delivered  their 
country  from  the  oppression  of  foreigners,  encountered  a 
more  formidable  enemy  in  the  factious  spirit  of  their  own 
people.  Alcimus,  a  tool  of  the  Syrians,  assumed  the  title 
of  high-priest,  and  in  virtue  of  his  office  claimed  the  obe¬ 
dience  of  all  who  acknowledged  the  institutions  of  Moses. 
In  this  emergency  Judas  courted  the  alliance  of  the  Romans, 
who  willingly  extended  their  protection  to  confederates  so 
likely  to  aid  their  ambitious  views  in  the  East ;  but  before 
the  republic  could  interpose  her  arms  in  his  behalf,  the 
Hebrew  general  had  fallen  in  the  field  of  battle. 

This  distinguished  patriot  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
Jonathan,  who,  though  less  celebrated  as  a  warrior,  had  the 
good  fortune  to  restore  the  drooping  cause  of  his  country¬ 
men,  and  even  to  establish  their  rights  on  the  footing  of  in¬ 
dependence.  Profiting  by  a  sanguinary  competition  for  the 
throne  of  Syria,  he  consented  to  employ  his  power  in  favour 
of  Alexander  Balas,  on  condition  that,  in  return  for  so  sea¬ 
sonable  an  aid,  he  should  be  allowed  to  assume  the  pontifi¬ 
cal  robe  as  ruler  of  Judea.  Hence  the  origin  of  the  Asmo- 
nean  princes,  who,  uniting  civil  with  spiritual  authority, 
governed  Palestine  more  than  a  hundred  years. 

But  Jonathan  fell  the  victim  of  that  refined  policy  to 
which  he  was  mainly  indebted  for  his  elevation.  He  left 
the  sovereign  priesthood  to  his  brother  Simon,  who,  wisely 
abstaining  from  all  interference  in  the  disputes  which  em¬ 
broiled  Egypt  and  Syria,  directed  his  whole  attention  to 
the  improvement  of  the  Jewish  kingdom.  To  secure  the 
tranquillity  which  had  been  so  dearly  purchased  he  culti¬ 
vated  a  more  intimate  connexion  with  Rome  ;  remitting, 
from  time  to  time,  such  valuable  tokens  of  his  respect  as 
could  not  fail  to  make  an  impression  on  the  venal  minds  of 
those  aspiring  chiefs  who  already  contended  for  the  empire 
of  the  world  in  that  celebrated  capital.  But  a  conspiracy, 
originating  in  his  own  house,  and  fomented  by  the  agents 
of  Antiochus,  put  an  end  to  the  life  of  Simon  and  of  his 
eldest  son,  who  had  earned  considerable  reputation  in  the 
command  of  armies.  The  duty  of  avenging  his  death  and 
of  governing  a  distracted  country  devolved  upon  his 


76 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


younger  son,  afterward  well  known  in  history  by  the  name 
of  John  Hyrcanus. 

The  unhappy  circumstances  under  which  he  succeeded 
to  power  compelled  him  to  submit  for  a  time  to  the  con¬ 
dition  of  vassalage  ;  but  no  sooner  had  Antiochus  Sidetes 
fallen  in  the  Parthian  war,  than  John  shook  off  the  yoke  of 
Syria,  and  exercised  the  rights  of  an  independent  sovereign. 
He  even  extended  his  sway  beyond  the  Jordan,  reducing 
several  important  towns  to  his  obedience ;  though  the 
achievement  which  most  gratified  his  Jewish  subjects  was 
the  capture  of  Shechem,  followed  by  the  demolition  of  the 
temple  on  Gerizim,  so  long  regarded  as  the  opprobrium  of 
the  Hebrew  faith.  At  a  later  period  he  made  himself  master 
of  Samaria  and  Galilee,  when,  to  gratify  still  farther  the 
vindictive  grudge  which  yet  rankled  in  the  breasts  of  his 
people,  he  destroyed  the  capital  of  the  former,  and  debased 
It  to  the  condition  of  a  stagnant  lake.  Nor  was  his  atten¬ 
tion  confined  to  foreign  conquest.  He  strengthened  the 
fortifications  of  Jerusalem,  and  built  the  castle  of  Baris 
within  the  walls  which  surrounded  the  hill  of  the  Temple, 

* — a  stronghold,  that  at  a  future  period  attracted  no  small 
degree  of  notice  under  the  name  of  Antonia. 

The  government  was  enjoyed  during  a  brief  space  by 
Aristobulus,  the  son  of  Hyrcanus,  whose  reign  was  only 
distinguished  by  the  most  painful  domestic  calamities. 
The  throne  was  next  occupied  by  Alexander  Jannseus,  a 
man  of  ignoble  birth,  but  of  a  warlike  and  very  ambitious 
temper.  The  distracted  state  of  the  neighbouring  coun¬ 
tries  induced  him  to  take  the  field,  with  the  view  of  reducing 
several  towns  on  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean, — an  under¬ 
taking  which  finally  involved  him  in  the  troubled  politics  of 
Egypt  and  Cyprus.  In  process  of  time,  the  severity  of  his 
measures,  or  the  meanness  of  his  extraction,  rendered  him 
so  unpopular  at  Jerusalem  that  the  inhabitants  expelled  him 
by  force  of  arms.  A  civil  war  of  the  most  sanguinary  na¬ 
ture  raged  several  years,  during  which  the  insurgents  in¬ 
vited  the  assistance  of  Demetrius  Euchaerus,  one  of  the 
kings  of  Syria.  This  measure  seems  to  have  united  a  large 
party  of  Jews,  who  were  equally  hostile  to  the  dominant 
faction  within  the  city,  and  to  the  ally  whom  they  had  called 
to  their  aid.  Alexander,  after  having  repeatedly  suffered 
the  heaviest  losses,  saw  himself  again  at  the  head  of  a  power* 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  77 


fill  army,  with  which  he  resolved  to  march  against  the  re¬ 
bellious  capital.  He  inflicted  a  signal  punishment  upon 
such  of  the  unfortunate  citizens  as  fell  into  his  hands  ;  or¬ 
dering  nearly  a  thousand  of  them  to  be  crucified,  and  their 
wives  and  children  to  be  butchered  before  their  eyes. 

Having  fully  re-established  his  power  to  the  remotest 
parts  of  Palestine,  the  victorious  high-priest,  now  drawing 
towards  the  close  of  his  days,  gave  instructions  to  his  wife 
for  the  future  government  of  the  country.  Alexandra,  a 
woman  of  a  vigorous  mind,  held  the  reins  of  civil  power 
with  great  steadiness,  while  her  eldest  son,  Hyrcanus  the 
Second,  was  decorated  with  the  sacred  diadem  as  the  head 
of  the  nation.  But,  unhappily,  the  commotions  which  had 
disturbed  the  reign  of  her  husband  were  again  excited,  and 
once  more  divided  the  people  into  two  furious  parties. 
Aristobulus,  the  younger  son  of  Jannseus,  gave  his  counte¬ 
nance  to  the  body  who  opposed  his  brother,  and  at  length 
threw  off  his  disguise  so  completely  as  to  aspire  to  supreme 
power  in  defiance  of  the  rights  of  birth  and  of  a  legal  investi¬ 
ture.  Hyrcanus,  who  was  far  inferior  to  his  ambitious  rela¬ 
tive  in  point  of  talent  and  resolution,  would  probably,  after 
the  death  of  their  mother,  have  been  unable  to  keep  his  seat 
on  the  throne,  had  he  not  received  the  powerful  aid  of  An¬ 
tipater,  a  son  of  Antipas,  the  governor  of  Idumea.  Both 
sides  were  making  preparation  for  an  appeal  to  arms,  when 
the  Romans,  who  had  already  overrun  the  finest  parts  of 
Syria,  advanced  into  the  province  of  Palestine  in  the  charac¬ 
ter  at  once  of  umpires  and  of  allies. 

Pompey  readily  listened  to  the  claims  of  the  two  com¬ 
petitors,  but  deferred  coming  to  an  immediate  decision  ; 
having  resolved,  as  it  afterward  appeared,  that  neither  of 
the  kinsmen  should  continue  any  longer  to  possess  the  civil 
and  military  command  of  Judea.  Aristobulus,  impatient 
of  delay,  and  having  no  confidence  in  the  goodness  of  his 
cause,  had  recourse  to  arms,  and  at  length  shut  himself  up 
in  Jerusalem.  The  Roman  general  issued  orders  to  his 
lieutenant  Gabinius  to  invest  the  holy  city  ;  which,  after 
a  siege  of  three  months,  was  taken  by  assault  at  a  great 
expense  of  human  life. 

Many  of  the  priests  who  were  employed  in  the  duties 
of  their  office  fell  victims  to  the  rage  of  the  soldiers  ;  while 
others,  unable  to  witness  the  desecration  of  their  Temple 

G  2 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


7$ 

by  the  presence  of  idolaters,  threw  themselves  from  thd 
rock  on  which  that  building  stood.  Induced  by  curiosity* 
the  rival  of  Caesar  imitated  the  profane  boldness  of  Antio- 
chus,  penetrating  into  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and  examining 
all  the  instruments  of  a  worship  which  differed  so  much 
from  that  of  all  other  nations.  But  Pompey  was  more 
politic,  or  more  generous  than  the  Syrian  monarch ;  for 
although  he  found  much  treasure  in  the  sanctuary  as  well 
as  many  vessels  of  gold  and  silver,  he  carried  nothing 
away.  He  expressed  much  astonishment  that,  in  a  fane  so 
magnificent,  and  frequented  by  Jews  from  all  parts  of  the 
earth,  there  should  be  no  material  form,  statue,  nor  picture 
to  represent  the  Deity  to  whose  honour  it  was  erected. 
Having,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  scruples  of  the  people, 
ordered  a  purification  of  the  Temple,  he  renewed  the  ap¬ 
pointment  of  Hyrcanus  to  the  high  priesthood,  but  without 
any  civil  power ;  while  in  respect  to  the  more  turbulent 
Aristobulus,  he  resolved  to  exercise  the  right  of  a  con¬ 
queror,  by  sending  him  and  his  two  sons  to  Rome,  that  they 
might  swell  the  train  of  his  approaching  triumph. 

The  escape  of  one  of  these  young  men,  and  afterward 
of  the  father  himself,  rekindled  the  flame  of  war  in  Pales¬ 
tine.  But  the  Romans  under  Gabinius  and  the  celebrated 
Mark  Antony,  speedily  subdued  the  hasty  levies  of  Aristo¬ 
bulus,  and  completely  re-established  the  ascendency  of  the 
Republic  in  all  the  revolted  districts.  Ill  the  civil  war 
which  ensued,  Antipater,  who  still  directed  the  affairs  of 
the  weak-minded  Hyrcanus,  paid  his  court  so  successfully 
to  the  dominant  faction  as  to  obtain  for  his  master  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  Caesar,  and  for  himself  the  procuratorship  of 
Judea.  Raised  to  this  commanding  eminence,  he  named 
Phasael,  his  eldest  son,  governor  of  Jerusalem,  and  con¬ 
fided  to  the  younger,  the  artful  and  unscrupulous  Herod, 
the  charge  of  Galilee. 

But  there  still  remained  an  individual  belonging  to  the 
family  of  Aristobulus,  who,  having  found  refuge  among  the 
Parthians,  led  a  powerful  army  of  that  people  into  Syria, 
and  finally  invested  Jerusalem.  The  invaders,  after  obtain¬ 
ing  possession  of  the  city,  deprived  Hyrcanus  of  the  priest¬ 
hood  and  Phasael  of  his  life  ;  the  barbarian  soldiers,  mean¬ 
time,  committing  pillage  on  all  classes,  both  within  the 
Walls  and  in  the  adjoining  country.  Herod,  warned  by  his 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  79 


less  fortunate  relative  in  the  capital,  had  fled  to  Rome, 
with  the  view,  it  is  said,  of  recommending  the  interests  of 
another  Aristobulus,  a  grandson  of  Hyrcanus,  and  brother 
of  the  beautiful  Mariamne,  to  whom  he  himself  was  already 
betrothed.  Octavius  and  Antony,  however,  thought  it  more 
expedient  for  their  rising  empire  that  Herod  should  wear 
the  vassal  crown  of  Judea  in  his  own  person,  rather  than 
see  it  placed  on  the  head  of  an  inexperienced  youth  ;  and 
as  the  son  of  Antipater  was  about  to  unite  himself  with  a 
descendant  of  the  Asmonean  princes,  it  was  considered  that 
the  claims  of  each  family  would  be  thereby  fully  satisfied. 

The  reign  of  Herod,  who,  to  distinguish  him  from  others 
of  the  same  name,  is  usually  called  the  Great,  was  no  less 
remarkable  for  domestic  calamity  than  for  public  peace  and 
happiness.  Urged  by  suspicion,  he  put  to  death  his  be¬ 
loved  wife,*  her  mother,  brother,  grandfather,  uncle,'  and 


*  The  effects  produced  upon  the  mind  of  the  king  by  the  murder  of 
Mariamne  are  powerfully  described  by  two  poetical  writers,  the  author 
ef  the  History  of  the  Jews,  and  the  unfortunate  Lord  Byron.  “  All  the 
passions,”  says  the  former,  “  which  filled  the  stormy  soul  of  Herod 
were  alike  without  bound :  from  violent  love  and  violent  resentment  he 
sank  into  as  viole'nt  remorse  and  despair.  Everywhere  by  day  he  was 
haunted  by  the  image  of  the  murdered  Mariamne  ;  he  called  upon  her 
name ;  he  perpetually  burst  into  passionate  tears.  In  vain  he  tried 
every  diversion, — banquets,  revels,  the  excitements  of  society.  A  sud¬ 
den  pestilence  broke  out,  to  which  many  of  the  noblest  of  his  court,  and 
of  his  own  personal  triends,  fell  a  sacrifice ;  he  recognised  and  trembled 
beneath  the  hand  of  the  avenging  Deity.  On  pretence  of  hunting,  he 
sought  out  the  most  melancholy  solitude,  till  the  disorder  of  his  mind 
brought  on  disorder  of  body,  and  he  was  seized  with  violent  inflamma¬ 
tion  and  pains  in  the  back  of  his  head,  which  led  to  temporary  derange¬ 
ment.” — Vol.  ii.  p.  90. 

i. 

“  Oh,  Mariamne  !  now  for  thee 

The  heart  for  Which  thou  bled’st  is  bleeding ; 

Revenge  is  lost  in  agony, 

And  wild  remorse  to  rage  succeeding. 

Oh,  Mariamne !  Where  art  thou  1 

Thou  canst  not  hear  my  bitter  pleading ; 

'  Ah,  coUldst  thou — thoU  wouldst  pardon  now, 

Though  Heaven  were  to  my  prayer  unheeding. 

ii. 

And  is  she  dead  f— and  did  they  dare 
Obey  my  phrensy’s  jealous  raving  1 

My  wrath  but  doomed  my  own  despair : 

The  sword  that  smote  her’s  o'er  me  waving.-* 


80 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


two  sons.  His  palace  was  the  scene  of  incessant  intrigue, 
misery,  and  bloodshed ;  his  nearest  relations  being  ever  the 
chief  instruments  of  his  worst  sufferings  and  fears.  It 
was,  perhaps,  to  divert  his  apprehensions  and  remorse  that 
he  employed  so  much  of  his  time  in  the  labours  of  archi¬ 
tecture.  Besides  a  royal  residence  on  Mount  Zion,  he 
built  a  number  of  citadels  throughout  the  country,  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  several  splendid  towns.  Among  these 
was  Cesarea,  a  station  well  selected  both  for  strength  and 
commerce,  and  destined  to  become,  under  a  different  govern¬ 
ment,  a  place  of  considerable  importance. 

But  the  impurity  of  his  blood  as  an  Idumean,  and  his 
undisguised  attachment  to  the  religion  of  his  Gentile  mas¬ 
ters,  created  an  obstacle  to  a  complete  understanding  with 
his  subjects,  which  no  degree  of  personal  kindness,  or  of 
wisdom  and  munificence  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs, 
could  ever  entirely  remove.  At  length  he  determined  on  a 
measure  which,  he  hoped,  would  at  the  same  time  employ 
the  people  and  ingratiate  himself  with  the  higher  classes, 
— the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  in  its  former  splendour  and 
greatness.  The  lapse  of  five  hundred  years,  and  the  ravage 
of  successive  wars,  had  much  impaired  the  structure  of 
Zerubbabel.  As  it  was  necessary  to  remove  the  dilapi¬ 
dated  parts  of  the  edifice  before  the  new  building  could  be 
begun,  the  Jews  looked  on  with  a  suspicious  eye ;  appre¬ 
hensive  lest  the  king,  under  pretence  of  doing  honour  to 
their  faith,  should  obliterate  every  vestige  of  their  ancient 
sanctuary.  But  the  prudence  of  Herod  calmed  their  fears  ; 
the  work  proceeded  with  the  greatest  regularity,  and  the 


But  thou  art  cold,  my  murder’d  love ! 

And  this  dark  heart  is  vainly  craving 
For  her  who  soars  alone  above, 

And  leaves  my  soul  unworthy  saving. 

hi. 

“  She ’s  gone,  who  shared  my  diadem ; 

She  sunk,  with  her  my  joys  entombing ; 

I  swept  that  flower  from  Judah’s  stem 
Whose  leaves  for  me  alone  were  blooming  ; 

And  mine ’s  the  guilt,  and  mine  the  hell, 

This  bosom’s  desolation  dooming ; 

And  I  have  earned  those  tortures  well, 

Which  unconsumed  are  still  consuming.” 

Hebrew  Melodies. 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  81 


nation  saw,  with  the  utmost  joy,  a  fabric  of  stately  archi¬ 
tecture  crowning  the  brow  of  Mount  Moriah  with  glitter¬ 
ing  masses  of  white  marble  and  pinnacles  of  gold.  Yet 
during  this  pious  undertaking  the  Jewish  monarch  main¬ 
tained  his  double  character ;  presiding  at  the  Olympic 
games,  granting  large  donations  for  their  support,  and  even 
allowing  himself  to  be  nominated  president  of  this  pagan 
festival.* 

As  he  advanced  towards  old  age  his  troubles  multiplied, 
and  his  apprehensions  were  increased,  till,  at  length,  four 
years  anterior  to  the  common  era  of  Christianity,  Herod 
sank  under  the  pressure  of  a  loathsome  disease.  He  was 
permitted  by  the  Romans  so  for  to  exercise  the  privileges 
of  an  independent  prince  as  to  distribute  by  will  the  inherit¬ 
ance  of  sovereignty  among  the  more  favoured  of  his  chil¬ 
dren  ;  and  in  virtue  of  this  indulgence  he  assigned  to 
Archelaus  the  government  of  Idumea,  Samaria,  and  Judea, 
while  he  bestowed  upon  Antipas  a  similar  authority  over 
Peraea  and  Galilee. 

But  the  young  princes  required  the  sanction  of  the  Roman 
emperor,  whom  they  both  regarded  as  their  liege  lord  ;  and 
with  that  view  repaired  to  the  capital  of  Italy.  The  will 
of  the  late  king  was  acknowledged  and  confirmed  by  Au¬ 
gustus,  who  was  moreover  pleased  to  give  to  Herod  Philip, 
their  elder  brother,  the  provinces  of  Auranitis,  Trachonitis, 
Paneas,  and  Batanea.  Archelaus,  the  metropolis  of  whose 
dominions  was  Jerusalem,  ruled  in  quality  of  ethnarch 
about  nine  years  ;  but  so  little  to  the  satisfaction  either  of 
his  master  at  Rome  or  of  the  people  whom  he  was  ap¬ 
pointed  to  govern,  that  at  the  end  of  this  period  he  was 
summoned  to  render  an  account  of  his  administration  at 
the  imperial  tribunal,  when  he  was  deprived  of  his  power 
and  wealth,  and  finally  banished  into  Gaul.  Judea  was 
now  reduced  to  a  Roman  province,  dependent  on  the  pre¬ 
fecture  of  Syria,  though  usually  placed  under  the  inspec¬ 
tion  of  a  subordinate  officer,  called  the  procurator  or 
governor.  Thus  the  sceptre  passed  away  from  Judah,  and 
the  lawgiver  descended  from  the  family  of  Jacob  ceased  to 
enjoy  power  within  the  confines  of  the  Promised  Land. 

.No  reader  can  require  to  be  reminded,  that  it  was  at  this 


*  History  of  the  Jews,  vol.  ii.  p.  96. 


82 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


epoch,  in  the  last  year  of  the  reign  of  Herod,  the  Messias 
was  born,  and  conveyed  into  Egypt  for  security.  The 
unjust  and  cruel  government  of  Archelaus,  for  which,  as 
has  just  been  related,  he  was  stripped  of  his  authority  by 
the  head  of  the  empire,  was  probably  the  cause  why  the 
holy  family  did  not  again  take  up  their  residence  in  Judea,  but 
preferred  the  milder  rule  of  Antipas.  When  Joseph  “  heard 
that  Archelaus  did  reign  in  Judea  in  the  room  of  'Tiis  father 
Herod,  he  was  afraid  to  go  thither :  notwithstanding,  being 
warned  of  God  in  a  dream,  he  turned  aside  into  the  parts  of 
Galilee  :  and  he  came  and  dwelt  in  a  city  called  Nazareth.”* 

The  first  thirty  years  of  the  Christian  era  did  not  pass 
away  without  several  insurrections  on  the  part  of  the  Jews, 
and  repeated  acts  of  severity  and  extortion  inflicted  upon 
them  by  their  stern  conquerors.  The  commotion  excited 
by  Judas,  called  the  Galilean,  is  regarded  by  historians  as 
one  of  the  most  important  of  those  ebullitions  which  were 
constantly  breaking  forth  among  that  inflammatory  people, 
not  only  on  account  of  its  immediate  consequences,  but  for 
the  effects  produced  on  the  national  character,  in  regard  to 
the  speculative  tenets  connected  with  tribute  and  submission 
to  a  heathen  government. 

Upon  the  exile  of  Archelaus,  the  prefecture  of  Syria 
was  committed  to  Publius  Sulpicius  Quirinius.  This  com¬ 
mander  is  mentioned  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke  by  the 
name  of  Cyrenius,  and  is  described  as  the  person  under 
whom  the  taxing  was  first  made  in  that  province.  Hence 
we  may  conclude,  that  the  enrolment  which  took  place  at 
the  birth  of  our  Saviour  was  merely  a  census,  comprehend¬ 
ing  the  numbers,  and  perhaps  the  wealth  and  station  of  the 
several  classes  of  the  people. 

It  was  about  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  our  epoch  that 

*  Matth.  ii.  22,  23.  “  Among  the  atrocities  which  disgraced  the  later 
days  of  Herod,  what  is  called  the  Massacre  of  the  Innocents  (which  took 
place  late  in  the  year  before,  or  early  in  the  same  year  with  the  death 
of  Herod)  passed  away  unnoticed.  The  murder  of  a  few  children  in 
a  village  near  Jerusalem  would  excite  little  sensation  among  such  a 
succession  of  dreadful  events,  except  among  the  immediate  sufferers. 
The  jealousy  of  Herod  against  any  one  who  should  be  born  as  a  king 
in  Judea—  the  dread  that  the  high  religious  spirit  of  the  people  might  be 
re-excited  by  the  hope  of  a  real  Messiah,— as  well  as  the  summary  man. 
ner  in  which  he  endeavoured  to  rid  himself  of  the  object  of  his  fears, 
are  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  relentlessness  and  decision  of  his 
character.” — History  of  the  Jews,  vol.  ii.  p.  106. 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  83 


Pontius  Pilate  was  nominated  to  the  government  of  Judea. 
Ignorant  or  indifferent  as  to  the  prejudices  of  the  Jews,  he 
roused  among  them  a  spirit  of  the  most  active  resentment, 
by  displaying  the  image  of  the  emperor  in  Jerusalem,  and 
by  seizing  part  of  their  sacred  treasure  for  the  purposes  of 
general  improvement.  As  the  fiery  temper  of  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  drove  them,  on  most  occasions,  to  acts  of  violence,  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  employ  force  in  return ;  and  we  find, 
accordingly,  that  his  administration  was  dishonoured  by 
several  acts  of  military  execution  directed  against  Jews  and 
Samaritans  indiscriminately.  His  severity  towards  the 
latter  people  finally  led  to  his  recall  and  disgrace  about  the 
year  36,  when  Yitellius,  the  father  of  the  future  emperor 
of  the  same  name,  presided  over  the  affairs  of  the  Syrian 
province. 

The  plan  of  our  work  does  not  permit  us  to  do  more  than 
allude  to  the  great  event  which  took  place  at  Jerusalem 
under  the  auspices  of  Pilate.  We  may  nevertheless  observe, 
that  the  narrative  of  the  gospel  is  in  strict  harmony  with 
the  character,  not  only  of  the  time  to  which  it  refers,  but 
also  of  all  the  persons  whose  acts  it  describes.  The  ex¬ 
pectation  of  the  Jews  when  Jesus  of  Nazareth  first  appeared, 
— their  subsequent  disappointment  and  rage, — their  hatred 
and  impatience  of  the  Roman  government, — the  perplexity 
of  the  military  chief, — and  the  motive  which  at  length  induced 
him  to  sacrifice  the  innocent  person  who  was  sisted  before 
him,  are  facts  which  display  the  most  perfect  accordance 
with  the  tone  of  civil  history  at  that  remarkable  period. 

During  the  troubles  which  agitated  Judea,  the  districts 
that  owned  the  sovereignty  of  Antipas  and  Philip,  namely, 
Galilee  and  the  country  beyond  the  Jordan,  enjoyed  com¬ 
parative  quiet.  The  former,  who  is  the  Herod  described  by 
our  Saviour  as  “  that  fox,”  was  a  person  of  a  cool  and  rather 
crafty  disposition,  and  might  have  terminated  his  long  reign 
in  peace,  had  not  Herodias,  whom  he  seduced  from  his 
brother — the  second  prince  just  mentioned — irritated  his 
ambition  by  pointing  to  the  superior  rank  of  his  nephew, 
Herod  Agrippa,  whom  Caligula  had  been  pleased  to  raise 
to  a  provincial  throne.  Urged  by  his  wife  to  solicit  a  simi¬ 
lar  elevation,  he  presented  himself  at  Rome,  and  obtained 
an  audience  of  the  emperor ;  but  the  successor  of  Tiberius 
was  so  little  pleased  with  his  conduct  on  this  occasion, 

I  •  * 


84 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


that  he  divested  him  of  the  tetrarchy,  and  banished  him 
into  Gaul. 

The  death  of  Herod  Philip  and  the  degradation  of  the 
Galilean  tetrarch  paved  the  way  for  the  advancement  of 
Agrippa  to  all  the  honour  and  power  which  had  belonged  to 
the  family  of  David.  He  was  permitted  to  reign  over  the 
whole  of  Palestine,  having  under  his  direction  the  usual 
number  of  Roman  troops,  which  experience  had  proved  to 
be  necessary  for  the  peace  of  a  province  at  once  so  remote 
and  so  turbulent.  The  only  event  that  disturbed  the  tran¬ 
quillity  of  his  government  was  an  insane  resolution  ex¬ 
pressed  by  Caligula  to  place  his  own  statue  in  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem,  as  an  object  of  respect,  if  not  of  positive  and 
direct  worship,  to  the  whole  Jewish  nation.  The  prudence 
of  the  Syrian  prefect,  and  the  influence  which  Agrippa  still 
possessed  over  the  mind  of  his  imperial  friend,  prevented 
the  horrors  that  must  have  arisen  from  the  attempt  to  dese¬ 
crate,  in  this  odious  manner,  a  sanctuary  deemed  most  holy 
by  every  descendant  of  Abraham. 

But  no  position  could  be  more  difficult  to  hold  with  safety 
and  reputation  than  that  which  was  occupied  by  this  He¬ 
brew  prince.  He  was  assailed  on  the  one  hand  by  the 
jealousy  of  the  Roman  deputies,  and  on  the  other  by  the 
suspicion  of  his  own  countrymen,  who  could  never  divest 
themselves  of  the  fear  that  his  foreign  education  had  ren¬ 
dered  him  indifferent  to  the  rites  of  the  Mosaical  law.  To 
satisfy  the  latter,  he  spared  no  expense  in  conferring  mag¬ 
nificence  on  the  daily  service  of  the  temple,  while  he  put 
forth  his  hand  to  persecute  the  Christian  church  in  the 
persons  of  St.  Peter  and  James  the  brother  of  John.  To 
remove  every  ground  of  disloyalty  from  the  eyes  of  the 
political  agents  who  were  appointed  by  Claudius  to  watch 
his  conduct,  he  ordered  a  splendid  festival  at  Cesarea  in 
honour  of  the  new  emperor ;  on  which  occasion,  when 
arrayed  in  the  most  gorgeous  attire,  certain  words  of  adula¬ 
tion  reached  his  ear,  not  fit  to  be  addressed  to  a  Jewish 
monarch.  The  result  will  be  best  described  in  the  words 
of  sacred  Scripture  :  “  And  upon  a  set  day  Herod,  arrayed 
in  royal  apparel,  sat  upon  his  throne,  and  made  an  oration 
unto  them.  And  the  people  gave  a  shout,  saying,  it  is  the 
voice  of  a  god,  and  not  of  a  man.  And  immediately  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  smote  him,  because  he  gave  not  God  the 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  85 


glory ;  and  he  was  eaten  of  worms,  and  gave  up  the  ghost.”* 
He  left  a  son  and  three  daughters,  of  whom  Agrippa,  Ber¬ 
nice,  and  Drusilla  make  a  conspicuous  figure  towards  the 
close^of  the  book  of  Acts.  These  events  took  place  between 
the  fortieth  and  the  forty-fifth  years  of  the  Christian  faith. 

The  youth  and  inexperience  of  the  prince  dictated  to  the 
Roman  government  the  propriety  of  assuming  once  more 
the  entire  direction  of  Jewish  affairs.  The  prefecture  of 
Syria  was  confided  to  Cassius  Longinus,  under  whom 
served,  as  procurator  of  Judea,  Caspius  Fadus,  a  stern 
though  an  upright  soldier.  But  the  impatience  and  hatred 
of  the  people  were  now  inflamed  to  such  a  degree,  that 
gentleness  and  severity  were  equally  unavailing  to  preserve 
the  tranquillity  of  the  country.  Impostors  appeared  on 
every  hand,  proclaiming  deliverance  to  the  oppressed  chil¬ 
dren  of  Jacob,  and  provoking  the  more  impetuous  among 
their  brethren  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Romans.  V arious 
conflicts  ensued,  in  which  the  discipline  of  the  legions  hardly 
ever  failed  to  disperse  or  destroy  the  tumultuary  bands  who, 
under  such  unhappy  auspices,  attempted  to  restore  the  king¬ 
dom  to  Israel.  The  holy  city,  which  was  from  time  to  time 
beleaguered  by  both  parties,  sustained  material  injury  from 
the  furious  assaults  of  pagan  and  Jew  alternately.  The 
predictions  of  its  downfall,  already  circulated  among  the 
Christians,  began  to  mingle  with  the  shouts  of  its  fanatical 
inhabitants  ;  and  already,  even  at  the  accession  of  Agrippa 
the  Second  to  his  limited  sovereignty,  every  thing  portended 
that  miserable  consummation  which  at  no  distant  period 
closed  the  temporal  scene  of  Hebrew  hope  and  dominion. 

Every  succeeding  day  witnessed  the  progress  of  that 
ferocious  sect  founded  on  the  opinions  of  Judas  the  Gaulon- 
ite,  who  acknowledged  no  sovereign  but  Jehovah,  and  who 
constantly  denounced  as  the  greatest  of  all  sins  those  pay¬ 
ments  or  services  by  means  of  which  a  heathenish  govern¬ 
ment  was  supported.  In  prosecuting  their  revolutionary 
schemes,  they  esteemed  no  man’s  life  dear,  and  set  as  little 
value  upon  their  own.  Devoted  to  the  principles  of  a 
frantic  patriotism,  they  were  content  to  sacrifice  to  its  claims 
the  clearest  dictates  of  humanity  and  religion ;  being  at  all 
times  ready  to  bind  themselves  by  an  oath  that  they  would 

*  Acts  xii.  21, 22,  23. 

H 


86 


HISTORICAL  OUTLINE  FROM  SAUL 


neither  eat  nor  drink  until  they  had  slain  the  enemy  of  thek 
nation  or  of  their  God.  This  was  the  school  which  sup¬ 
plied  that  execrable  faction,  who  added  tenfold  to  the  mise¬ 
ries  of  Jerusalem  in  the  day  of  her  visitation,  and  who 
contributed  more  than  all  the  legions  of  Rome  to  realize  the 
bitterness  of  the  curse  which  was  poured  upon  her  devoted 
head. 

A  succession  of  unprincipled  governors,  who  were  sent 
forth  to  enrich  themselves  on  the  spoils  of  the  Syrian  prov¬ 
inces,  accelerated  the  crisis  of  Judea.  About  the  middle 
of  the  first  century  the  notorious  Felix  was  appointed  to 
the  government,  who,  in  the  administration  of  affairs,  habit¬ 
ually  combined  violence  with  fraud,  sending  out  his  soldiers 
to  inflict  punishment  on  such  as  had  not  the  means  or  the 
inclination  to  bribe  his  clemency.  An  equal  stranger  to 
righteousness  and  temperance,  he  presented  a  fine  subject 
for  the  eloquence  of  St.  Paul,  who  it  is  presumed,  how¬ 
ever,  made  the  profligate  governor  tremble,  without  either 
affecting  his  religious  principles  or  improving  his  moral 
conduct. 

The  short  residence  of  Festus  procured  for  the  unhappy 
Jews  a  respite  from  oppression.  He  laboured  successfully 
to  put  down  the  bands  of  insurgents,  whose  ravages  were 
inflicted  indiscriminately  upon  foreigners  and  their  own 
countrymen ;  nor  was  he  less  active  in  checking  the  ex¬ 
cesses  of  the  military,  so  long  accustomed  to  rapine  and 
free  quarter.  Agrippa  at  the  same  time  transferred  the 
seat  of  his  government  to  Jerusalem,  where  his  presence 
served  to  moderate  the  rage  of  parties,  and  thereby  to  post¬ 
pone  the  final  rupture  between  the  provincials  and  their 
imperial  master.  But  this  brief  interval  of  repose  was  fol¬ 
lowed  by  an  increased  degree  of  irritation  and  fury.  Florus, 
alike  distinguished  for  his  avarice  and  cruelty,  and  who  saw 
in  the  contentions  of  the  people  the  readiest  means  for  filling 
his  own  coffers,  connived  at  the  mutual  hostility  which  it 
was  his  duty  to  prevent.  In  this  nefarious  policy  he  re¬ 
ceived  the  countenance  of  Cestius  Gallus,  the  prefect  of 
Syria,  who,  imitating  the  maxims  of  his  lieutenant,  stu¬ 
diously  drove  the  natives  to  insurrection,  in  order  that  their 
cries  for  justice  might  be  drowned  amid  the  clash  of  arms. 

But  he  forgot  that  there  are  limits  to  endurance  even 
among  the  most  humble  and  abject.  Unable  to  support  the 


TO  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  87 


■weight  of  his  tyranny,  and  galled  by  certain  insults  directed 
against  their  faith,  the  Jewish  inhabitants  of  Cesarea  set 
his  power  at  defiance,  and  declared  their  resolution  to  repel 
his  injuries  by  force.  The  capital  was  soon  actuated  by  a 
similar  spirit,  and  made  preparations  for  defence.  Cestius 
marched  to  the  gates,  and  demanded  an  entrance  for  the 
imperial  cohorts,  whose  aid  was  required  to  support  the 
garrison  within.  The  citizens,  refusing  to  comply,  antici¬ 
pated  the  horrors  of  a  siege,  when  after  a  few  days  they 
saw,  to  their  great  surprise,  the  Syrian  prefect  in  full 
retreat,  carrying  with  him  his  formidable  army.  Sallying 
from  the  different  outlets  with  arms  in  their  hands,  they 
pursued  the  fugitives  with  the  usual  fury  of  an  incensed 
multitude  ;  and,  overtaking  their  enemy  at  the  narrow  pass 
of  Bethhoron,  they  avenged  the  cause  of  independence  by 
a  considerable  slaughter  of  the  legionary  soldiers,  and  by 
driving  the  remainder  to  an  ignominious  flight. 

Nero  received  the  intelligence  of  this  defeat  while  amus¬ 
ing  himself  in  Greece,  and  immediately  sent  Vespasian  into 
Syria  to  assume  the  government,  with  instructions  to  restore 
the  peace  of  the  province  by  moderate  concessions  or  by  the 
most  vigorous  warfare.  It  was  in  the  year  sixty-seven 
that  this  great  commander  entered  Judea,  accompanied  by 
his  son,  the  celebrated  Titus.  The  result  is  too  well  known 
to  require  details.  A  series  of  sanguinary  battles  deprived 
the  Jews  of  their  principal  towns  one  after  another,  until 
they  were  at  length  shut  up  in  Jerusalem  ;  the  siege  and 
final  reduction  of  which  compose  one  of  the  most  affecting 
stories  that  are  anywhere  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the 
human  race. 


@8 


'LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


CHAPTER  IV. 

On  the  Literature  and  Religious  Usages  of  the  Ancient 

Hebrews. 

Obscurity  of  the  Subject — Learning  issued  from  the  Levitical  Colleges— 
Schools  of  the  Prophets — Music  and  Poetry — Meaning  of  the  term 
Prophecy — Illustrated  by  References  to  the  Old  Testament  and  to  the 
New— The  Power  of  Prediction  not  confined  to  those  bred  in  the 
Schools — Race  of  False  Prophets — Their  Malignity  and  Deceit — Mi- 
caiah  and  Ahab — Charge  against  Jeremiah  the  Prophet — Criterion  to 
distinguish  True  from  False  Prophets— The  Canonical  Writings  of 
the  Prophets — Literature  of  Prophets — Sublime  Nature  of  their  Com¬ 
positions — Examples  from  Psalms  and  Prophetical  Writings—  Humane 
and  liberal  Spirit— Care  used  to  keep  alive  the  Knowledge  of  the  Law 
— Evils  arising  from  the  Division  of  Israel  and  Judah — Ezra  collects 
the  Ancient  Boobs — Schools  of  Prophets  similar  to  Convents — Sciences 
— Astronomy — Division  of  Time,  Days,  Months,  and  Years — Sabbaths 
and  New  Moons — Jewish  Festivals — Passover— Pentecost — Feast  of 
Tabernacles — Of  Trumpets — Jubilee— Daughters  of  Zelophedad — 
Feast  of  Dedication — Minor  Anniversaries — Solemn  Character  of  He¬ 
brew  Learning — Its  easy  Adaptation  to  Christianity— Superior  to  the 
Literature  of  all  other  ancient  Nations. 

There  is  no  subject  on  which  greater  obscurity  prevails 
than  that  of  the  learning  and  schools  of  the  Hebrews  prior 
to  their  return  from  the  Babylonian  captivity.  The  wise 
institution  of  Moses,  which  provided  for  the  maintenance 
of  Levitical  towns  in  all  the  tribes,  secured  at  least  an 
hereditary  knowledge  of  the  law,  including  both  its  civil 
and  its  spiritual  enactments.  It  is  extremely  probable, 
therefore,  that  all  the  varieties  of  literary  attainment  which 
might  be  deemed  necessary,  either  for  the  discharge  of  pro¬ 
fessional  duties  or  for  the  ornament  of  private  life,  were 
derived  from  those  seminaries,  and  partook  largely  of  their 
general  character  and  spirit.  An  examination  of  the  scanty 
remains  of  that  remote  period  will  justify,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  the  conjecture  now  made.  It  will  appear  that  the 
poetry,  the  ethics,  the  oratory,  the  music,  and  even  the 
physical  science  cultivated  in  the  time  of  Samuel  and 
David  bore  a  close  relation  to  the  original  object  of  the 


OF  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 


89; 

I 

Levitical  colleges,  and  were  meant  to  promote  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  religion  and  morality,  no  less  than  of  that  singular 
patriotism  which  made  the  Hebrew  delight  in  his  separation 
from  all  the  other  nations  of  the  earth. 

Our  attention  is  first  attracted  by  the  several  allusions 
which  are  scattered  over  the  earlier  books  of  the  Old  Tes¬ 
tament  to  the  schools  of  the  prophets.  These  were  estab¬ 
lishments  obviously  intended  to  prepare  young  men  for 
certain  offices  analogous  to  those  which  are  discharged  in 
our  days  by  the  different  orders  of  the  clergy  ;  maintained 
in  some  degree  at  the  public  expense  ;  and  placed  under  the 
superintendence  of  persons  who  were  distinguished  for  their 
gravity  and  high  endowments.  The  principal  studies  pur¬ 
sued  in  these  convents  appear  to  have  been  poetry  and 
music,  the  elements  of  which  were  necessary  to  the  young 
prophet  when  he  was  called  to  take  a  part  in  the  worship 
of  Jehovah.  In  the  book  of  Samuel  we  find  the  pupils  per¬ 
forming  on  psalteries,  tabrets,  and  harps ;  and  in  the  first 
section  of  the  Chronicles  it  is  said  that  the  sons  of  Asaph, 
of  Heman,  and  of  Jeduthan  prophesied  with  harps,  with 
psalteries,  and  with  cymbals.  For  the  same  reason  Miriam 
the  sister  of  Moses  is  called  a  prophetess.  When  preparing 
to  chant  her  song  of  triumph,  upon  the  destruction  of  the 
Egyptians  at  the  Red  Sea,  “  she  took  a  timbrel  in  her  hand, 
and  all  the  women  went  out  after  her  with  timbrels  and 
with  dances.” 

On  a  similar  ground  is  the  expression  to  be  interpreted 
when  used  by  St.  Paul  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  his  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  “  Every  woman  praying  or 
prophesying  with  her  head  uncovered  dishonoureth  her 
head  that  is,  every  female  who  takes  a  part  in  the  devo¬ 
tions  of  the  Christian  Church, — the  supplications  and  the 
praises, — ought,  according  to  the  practice  of  eastern  na¬ 
tions,  to  have  her  face  concealed  in  a  veil,  as  becoming  the 
modesty  of  her  sex  in  a  mixed  congregation.  The  term 
prophesy,  in  this  instance,  must  be  restricted  to  the  use  of 
psalmody,  because  exposition  or  exhortation  in  public  was 
not  permitted  to  the  women,  who  were  not  allowed  to  speak 
or  even  to  ask  a  question  in  a  place  of  worship.  Nay,  the 
same  apostle  applies  the  title  of  prophet  to  those  persons 
among  the  heathen  who  composed  or  uttered  songs  in 
praise  of  their  gods.  In  his  Epistle  to  Titus  he  alludes  to 

H  2 


90 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


the  people  of  Crete  in  these  words,  “  one  of  themselves, 
even  a  prophet  of  their  own,  has  said,  the  Cretans  were 
always  liars.”  And  every  classical  scholar  is  perfectly 
aware  that  in  the  language  of  pagan  antiquity  a  poet  and 
a  prophet  were  synonymous  appellations. 

But  the  function  of  the  prophet  was  not  confined  to  the 
duty  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  ;  it  also  implied  the  ability 
to  expound  and  enforce  the  principles  of  the  Mosaical  Law. 
He  was  entitled  to  exhort  and  entreat ;  and  we  accordingly 
find  that  the  greater  portion  of  the  prophetical  writings 
consist  of  remonstrances,  rebukes,  threatenings,  and  expos¬ 
tulations.  In  order  to  be  a  prophet,  in  the  Hebrew  sense 
of  the  expression,  it  was  not  necessary  to  be  endowed  with 
the  power  of  foreseeing  future  events.  It  is  true  that  the 
holy  men  through  whom  the  Almighty  thought  meet  to 
reveal  his  intentions  relative  to  the  church,  were  usually 
selected  from  the  order  of  persons  now  described.  But 
there  were  several  exceptions,  among  whom  stood  pre¬ 
eminent  the  eloquent  Daniel  and  the  pathetic  Amos.  To 
prophesy,  therefore,  in  the  later  times  of  the  Hebrew  com¬ 
monwealth  meant  most  generally  the  explication  and  en¬ 
forcement  of  Divine  truth — an  import  of  the  term  which  was 
extended  into  the  era  of  the  New  Testament,  when  the 
more  recondite  sense  of  the  phrase  was  almost  entirely  laid 
aside. 

In  truth,  it  should  seem  that  even  before  the  days  of 
Samuel  the  opinions,  or  rather  perhaps  the  popular  notions 
connected  with  the  name  and  offices  of  a  prophet,  had  un¬ 
dergone  some  change,  and  began  to  point  to  higher  objects. 
Saul,  when  employed  in  seeking  his  father’s  asses,  had 
journeyed  so  far  from  home  that  he  despaired  of  finding 
his  way  thither ;  and  when  he  was  come  to  the  land  of 
Zuph  he  said  to  his  servant,  “  Come,  and  let  us  return  ; 
lest  my  father  leave  caring  for  the  asses,  and  take  thought 
for  us.  And  he  said  unto  him,  Behold  now,  there  is  in 
this  city  a  man  of  God,  and  he  is  an  honourable  man  ;  all 
that  he  saith  cometh  surely  to  pass  :  now  let  us  go  thither ; 
peradventure  he  can  show  us  our  way  that  we  should  go. 
Then  said  Saul  to  his  servant,  But,  behold,  if  we  go,  what 
shall  we  bring  the  man  ;  for  the  bread  is  spent  in  our  ves¬ 
sels,  and  there  is  not  a  present  to  bring  to  the  man  of  God  : 
what  have  we  1  And  the  servant  answered  Saul  again, 


OF  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 


91 


and  said,  Behold,  I  have  here  at  hand  the  fourth  part  of  a 
shekel  of  silver ;  that  will  I  give  to  the  man  of  God  to  tell 
us  our  way.  (Beforetime  in  Israel,  when  a  man  went  to 
inquire  of  God,  thus  he  spake,  Come,  and  let  us  go  to  the 
seer :  for  he  that  is  now  called  a  prophet  was  beforetime 
called  a  seer.)  Then  said  Saul  to  his  servant,  Well  said  ; 
come,  let  us  go.  So  they  went  unto  the  city  where  the 
man  of  God  was.”* 

The  description  of  soothsayer  whom  Saul  and  his  servant 
had  resolved  to  consult  is  very  common  in  all  lands  at  a 
certain  stage  of  knowledge  and  civilization, — a  personage 
who,  without  much  reliance  on  Divine  aid,  could  amuse  the 
curiosity  of  a  rustic  and  perplex  his  ignorance  with  an  am¬ 
biguous  answer.  But  the  age  of  Samuel  required  more 
solid  qualifications  in  the  prophets,  and  hence  the  term  seer 
had  already  given  way  to  that  of  expounder  or  master  of 
eloquence  and  wisdom.  The  expedient  suggested  by  the 
attendant  of  the  son  of  Kish  was  very  natural,  and  quite 
Consistent  with  his  rank  and  habits  ;  while  the  easy  ac¬ 
quiescence  which  he  obtained  from  his  master  denotes  the 
simplicity  of  ancient  times,  not  less  than  the  untutored  state 
of  mind  in  which  the  future  King  of  Israel  had  left  his  pa¬ 
rent’s  dwelling.  Before  he  mounted  the  throne,  however, 
he  was  sent  to  acquire  the  elements  of  learning  among  the 
sons  of  the  prophets ;  whom,  in  a  short  time,  he  accom¬ 
panied  in  their  pious  exercises  in  a  manner  so  elevated  as 
to  astonish  every  one  who  had  formerly  known  the  young 
Benjamite ;  till  then  remarkable  only  for  a  mild  disposition 
and  great  bodily  strength. 

The  mental  bias  towards  prediction,  which  is  almost  un¬ 
avoidably  acquired  by  the  practice  of  elucidation  and  com¬ 
mentary  on  a  dark  text,  soon  showed  itself  in  the  schools 
of  the  prophets.  Many  of  them,  trusting  to  their  own  in¬ 
genuity  rather  than  to  the  suggestion  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth, 
ventured  to  foretel  the  issue  of  events,  and  to  delineate  the 
future  fortunes  of  nations,  as  well  as  of  individuals.  Hence 
the  race  of  false  prophets,  who  brought  so  much  obloquy 
upon  the  whole  order,  and  not  unfrequently  barred  against 
the  approach  of  godly  admonition  the  ears  of  those  who 
were  actually  addressed  by  an  inspired  messenger.  Nay, 


*  i  Samuel  ix.  5-11. 


9$ 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


it  appears  that  some  of  them  arrogated  the  power  of  real" 
izing  the  good  or  the  evil  which  they  were  pleased  to  fore- 
tel ;  allowing  the  people  to  believe  that  they  were  possessed 
with  demons,  who  enabled  them,  not  only  to  foresee,  but  to 
influence  in  no  small  measure  the  course  of  Providence. 
The  impression  on  the  mind  of  Ahab  in  regard  to  Micaiah 
leaves  no  room  for  doubt  that  the  king  imagined  the  prophet 
to  be  actuated  by  a  malignant  feeling  towards  him.  “  I 
hate  him,”  he  exclaimed,  “  for  he  doth  not  prophesy  good 
concerning  me,  but  evil.”  Nor  was  the  conviction  that  this 
ungracious  soothsayer  spoke  from  his  own  wishes  rather  than 
from  a  divine  impulse  confined  to  the  Israelitish  monarch. 
The  messenger  who  was  sent  to  call  Micaiah  spake  unto 
him,  saying,  “  Behold  now,  the  words  of  the  prophets  de¬ 
clare  good  unto  the  king  with  one  mouth  :  let  thy  word,  I 
pray  thee,  be  like  the  word  of  one  of  them,  and  speak  that 
which  is  good.”* 

When  we  consider  the  uncertainty  which  must  have 
attended  all  predictions,  where  the  wishes  or  feelings  of  the 
prophet  could  give  a  different  expression  to  the  purposes  of 
God,  we  cannot  any  longer  be  surprised  at  the  neglect  with 
which  such  announcements  were  frequently  treated  by  those 
to  whom  they  were  addressed.  It  is  remarkable,  too,  that 
one  prophet  did  not  possess  the  gift  of  ascertaining  the  truth 
or  sincerity  of  another  who  might  declare  that  he  spoke  in 
the  name  of  God ;  and  hence  there  were  no  means  of  deter¬ 
mining  the  good  faith  of  this  order  of  men,  except  the  gene¬ 
ral  evidence  of  a  pious  character,  or  the  test  of  a  successful 
experience.  For  example,  when  Jeremiah  proclaimed  the 
approaching  faH  of  Jerusalem,  the  other  prophets  were 
among  the  first  to  oppose  him,  saying,  “  Thou  shalt  surely 
die  :  why  hast  thou  prophesied  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  that 
this  house  shall  be  like  Shiloh,  and  this  city  shall  be  deso¬ 
late  without  an  inhabitant  V’  The  princes  of  Judah  as¬ 
sembled  in  the  Temple  to  hear  the  charge  repeated  against 
this  fearless  minister  ;  when  again  “  spake  the  priests  and 
the  prophets  unto  the  princes,  and  to  all  the  people,  saying, 
This  man  is  worthy  to  die ;  for  he  hath  prophesied  against 
this  city,  as  ye  have  heard  with  your  ears.” 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  too,  that  the  prediction  which  gave 


*  I  Kings  xxii.  8,  13. 


OF  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 


93 


so  much  offence  was  conditional  and  contingent,  and  that 
Jeremiah,  accordingly,  incurred  the  hazard  of  suffering  the 
severe  punishment  due  to  a  false  prophet ;  because  if  the 
people  had  turned  from  their  sins  the  fate  of  their  capital 
and  nation  would  have  been  protracted.  “  The  Lord  sent 
me  to  prophesy  against  this  house,  and  against  this  city,  all 
the  words  that  ye  have  heard.  Therefore  now  amend  your 
ways  and  your  doings,  and  obey  the  voice  of  the  Lord  your 
God ;  and  the  Lord  will  repent  him  of  the  evil  that  he  hath 
pronounced  against  you.  As  for  me,  behold,  I  am  in  your 
hand  ;  do  with  me  as  seemeth  good  and  meet  unto  you  :  but 
know  ye  for  certain,  that,  if  ye  put  me  to  death,  ye  shall 
surely  bring  innocent  blood  upon  yourselves,  and  upon  this 
city,  and  upon  the  inhabitants  thereof ;  for  of  a  truth  the 
Lord  hath  sent  me  unto  you,  to  speak  all  these  words  in 
your  ears.”* 

The  decision  of  the  princes  was  more  equitable  than  the 
accusation  adduced  by  the  priests  and  prophets ;  for  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  law  of  Moses  no  man  could  be  punished  for 
predicting  the  most  calamitous  events,  provided  he  perse¬ 
vered  in  the  assertion  that  he  spoke  in  the  name  of  Jehovah. 
The  divine  legislator  denounced  the  penalty  of  death 
against  every  prophet  who  should  speak  in  the  name  of  any 
false  god,  or  who  should  speak  in  the  name  of  Jehovah  that 
which  he  was  not  commanded  to  speak ;  but,  in  regard  to 
the  latter  offence,  the  guilt  could  only  be  substantiated  by 
the  failure  of  the  prophecy.  “  And  if  thou  say  in  thine 
heart,  how  shall  we  know  the  word  which  the  Lord  hath 
not  spoken  1  When  a  prophet  speaketh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  if  the  thing  follow  not,  nor  come  to  pass,  that  is  the 
thing  which  the  Lord  hath  not  spoken,  but  the  prophet  hath 
spoken  it  presumptuously.”! 

It  is  obvious,  however,  that  in  all  cases  where  a  con¬ 
dition  was  implied,  the  fulfilment  of  the  prediction  could  not 
be  regarded  as  essential  to  the  establishment  of  the  pro¬ 
phetic  character.  The  capture  of  Jerusalem  produced  the 
most  undeniable  testimony  to  the  inspiration  of  Jeremiah, 
as  well  as  to  the  sincerity  of  his  expostulation  ;  yet  it  is 
well  known  that  his  motives  did  not  escape  suspicion,  and 


*  Jer.  xxvi.  8-16. 


t  Deut.  xviii.  21, 22. 


94 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


that  his  memory  was  loaded  by  many  of  his  countrymen 
with  the  charge  of  having  favoured  the  Chaldeans. 

It  may  not  appear  out  of  place  to  inform  the  young 
reader  that  the  prophets  whose  writings  are  contained  in 
the  Old  Testament  are  in  number  sixteen,  and  usually  di¬ 
vided  into  two  classes,  the  greater  and  the  minor,  according 
to  the  extent  of  their  works  and  the  importance  of  their  sub¬ 
ject.  Of  the  former,  Isaiah,  who  may  be  regarded  as  the 
chief,  began  to  prophesy  under  Uzziah,  and  continued  till 
the  first  year  of  Manasseh.  Jeremiah  flourished  a  few 
years  before  the  great  captivity,  and  lived  to  witness  the 
fulfilment  of  his  own  predictions.  Ezekiel,  who  had  been 
carried  into  the  Babylonian  territory  some  time  before  the 
ruin  of  his  native  country  in  the  days  of  Zedekiah,  began 
to  perform  his  office  among  the  Jewish  captives  in  the  land 
of  the  Chaldees,  in  the  fifth  year  after  Jehoiakim  was  made 
prisoner.  Daniel,  the  youngest  of  the  four,  was  only 
twelve  years  of  age  when  he  was  involved  in  the  miseries 
of  conquest,  and  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  dependant 
at  a  foreign  court. 

Among  the  twelve  minor  prophets,  Jonas,  Hosea,  Amos, 
and  Micah  preceded  the  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of 
Israel.  Nahum  and  Joel  appeared  between  that  catastrophe 
and  the  captivity  of  Judah.  Habakkuk,  Obadiah,  and 
Zephaniah  lived  at  the  time  when  Jerusalem  was  taken, 
and  during  part  of  the  captivity.  Haggai,  Zecharias,  and 
Malachi,  the  last  of  the  whole,  prophesied  after  the  return 
from  Babylon. 

But  our  business  is  rather  with  the  literature  of  the 
prophets  at  large  than  with  the  special  functions  of  the  few 
individuals  of  their  body  who  were  commissioned  by  Heaven 
to  reveal  the  secrets  of  future  time.  Of  the  fruits  of  their 
professional  study  we  have  fine  examples  preserved  in  the 
Psalms  of  David  and  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon ;  the  former, 
a  collection  of  sacred  lyrics  composed  for  the  worship  of 
Jehovah ;  the  latter,  a  compend  of  practical  wisdom,  sug¬ 
gested  by  an  enlightened  experience,  and  expressed  in 
language  equally  striking  for  its  divine  truth  and  rare  sim¬ 
plicity. 

In  early  times  the  dictates  of  moral  philosophy  are 
enounced  in  short  sentences,  the  result  of  much  thought, 
and  of  which  the  effect  is  usually  heightened  by  the  intro- 


OP  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 


95 


Auction  of  a  judicious  antithesis  both  in  the  sentiment  and 
the  expression.  The  apothegms  ascribed  to  the  wise  men 
of  Greece  belong  to  this  kind  of  composition  ;  being  ex¬ 
tremely  valuable  to  a  rude  people  who  can  profit  by  the 
fruits  of  reasoning  without  being  able  to  attend  to  its  forms, 
and  deposite  in  their  minds  a  useful  precept,  unencumbered 
with  the  arguments  by  means  of  which  its  soundness  might 
be  proved.  The  books  which  bear  the  name  of  Solomon 
are  distinguished  above  all  others  for  the  sage  views  that 
they  exhibit  of  human  life,  and  for  the  sensible  maxims  ad¬ 
dressed  to  all  conditions  of  men  who  have  to  encounter  its 
manifold  perils — proving  a  guide  unto  the  feet  and  a  lamp 
unto  the  path. 

In  no  respect  does  the  Hebrew  nation  appear  to  greater 
advantage  than  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  their  sublime 
compositions.  Nor  is  this  remark  confined  simply  to  the 
style  or  mechanism  of  their  writings,  which  is  neverthe¬ 
less  allowed  by  the  best  judges  to  possess  many  merits; 
but  may  be  extended  more  especially  to  the  exalted  nature 
of  their  subjects, — the  works,  the  attributes,  and  the  pur¬ 
poses  of  Jehovah.  The  poets  of  pagan  antiquity,  on  the 
other  hand,  excite  by  their  descriptions  of  divine  things  our 
ridicule  or  disgust.  Even  the  most  approved  of  their  order 
exhibit  repulsive  images  of  their  deities,  and  suggest  the 
grossest  ideas  in  connexion  with  the  principles  and  enjoy¬ 
ments  which  prevail  among  the  inhabitants  of  Olympus. 
But  the  contemporaries  of  David,  inferior  in  many  things 
to  the  ingenious  people  who  listened  to  the  strains  of  Homer 
and  of  Virgil,  are  remarkable  for  their  elevated  conceptions 
of  the  Supreme  Being  as  the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the 
world,  not  less  than  for  the  suitable  terms  in  which  they 
give  utterance  to  their  exalted  thoughts. 

In  no  other  country  but  Judea,  at  that  early  period,  were 
such  sentiments  as  the  following  either  expressed  or  felt. 
“  0  Jehovah,  our  Lord,  how  excellent  is  thy  name  in  all  the 
earth,  thou  that  hast  set  thy  glory  above  the  heavens  ! 
When  I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the 
moon  and  the  stars  which  thou  hast  ordained  ;  what  is  man, 
that  thou  art  mindful  of  him,  or  the  son  of  man,  that  thou 
visitest  him  1  Bless  Jehovah,  0  my  soul.  0  Lord  my 
God,  thou  art  very  great,  and  art  clothed  with  honour  and 
majesty !  Thou  coverest  thyself  with  light  as  with  a  gar- 


96 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


ment,  and  stretchest  out  the  heavens  like  a  curtain :  who 
layeth  the  beams  of  his  chambers  in  the  waters,  who  maketh 
the  clouds  his  chariot,  and  walketh  upon  the  wings  of  the 
wind !  Bless  Jehovah,  0  my  soul,  and  all  that  is  within 
me,  bless  his  holy  name.  Bless  Jehovah,  0  my  soul,  and 
forget  not  all  his  benefits ;  who  forgiveth  all  thine  ini¬ 
quities  ;  who  healeth  all  thy  diseases ;  who  redeemeth  thy 
life  from  destruction  ;  who  crowneth  thee  with  loving-kind¬ 
ness  and  tender  mercies.  Jehovah  is  merciful  and  gracious, 
slow  to  anger,  and  plenteous  in  mercy.  He  hath  not  dealt 
with  us  after  our  sins,  neither  rewarded  us  according  to  our 
iniquities.  For  as  the  heaven  is  high  above  the  earth,  so 
great  is  his  mercy  toward  them  that  fear  him.  For  he 
knoweth  our  frame,  he  remembereth  that  we  are  dust.” — 
“  0  Lord,  thou  hast  searched  me  and  known  me  :  thou 
knowest  my  downsitting  and  mine  uprising,  thou  under- 
standest  my  thoughts  long  before.  Thou  art  about  my  bed 
and  about  my  path,  and  art  acquainted  with  all  my  ways, 
Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  spirit,  or  whither  shall  I  flee 
from  thy  presence  1  If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  arl 
there  ;  if  I  go  down  to  the  dwelling  of  the  departed,  thou 
art  there  also.  If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning  anc 
abide  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,  even  there  shall  thy 
hand  lead  me,  and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me.  If  I  say, 
surely  the  darkness  shall  cover  me,  even  the  night  shall  b< 
turned  into  day.  Yea,  the  darkness  is  no  darkness  wit! 
thee,  but  the  night  shineth  as  the  day  :  the  darkness  and  the 
light  are  both  alike  to  thee.” 

A  similar  train  of  lofty  conception  pervades  the  writings 
of  the  prophets.  “  Who  hath  measured  the  waters  in  the 
hollow  of  his  hand,  and  meted  out  the  heavens  with  a  span, 
and  comprehended  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a  measure,  and 
weighed  the  mountains  in  scales,  and  the  hills  in  a  balance  1 
Behold,  the  nations  are  as  a  drop  of  a  bucket,  and  are 
counted  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance  ;  he  taketh  up  the 
isles  as  a  very  little  thing.  It  is  he  that  sitteth  upon  the 
circle  of  the  earth,  and  the  inhabitants  thereof  are  as  grass¬ 
hoppers.  Lift  up  your  eyes  on  high,  and  behold  who  hat! 
created  these  things,  who  bringeth  out  their  host  by  num¬ 
ber  :  he  calleth  them  all  by  names,  by  the  greatness  of  his 
might,  fo'r  that  he  is  strong  in  powrer,  no  one  faileth.  Hasl 
thou  not  known,  hast  thou  not  heard,  that  the  everlasting 


OF  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 


97 


God,  the  Lord,  the  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth,  fainteth 
not,  neither  is  weary  1  There  is  no  searching  of  his  under¬ 
standing.” 

The  following  quotation  from  the  same  inspired  author  is 
very  striking,  inasmuch  as  the  truth  contained  in  it  is 
founded  upon  an  enlarged  view  of  the  Divine  government, 
and  directly  pointed  against  that  insidious  Manicheism, 
which,  originating  in  the  East,  has  gradually  infected  the 
religious  opinions  of  a  large  portion  of  mankind.  Light 
was  imagined  to  proceed  from  one  source,  and  darkness 
from  another ;  all  good  was  traced  to  one  being,  and  all  evil 
was  ascribed  to  a  hostile  and  antagonist  principle.  Spirit, 
pure  and  happy,  arose  from  the  former  ;  while  matter,  with 
its  foul  propensities  and  jarring  elements,  took  its  rise  from 
the  latter.  But  Isaiah,  abided  by  an  impulse  which  super¬ 
sedes  the  inferences  of  tne  profoundest  philosophy,  thus 
speaks  concerning  the  God  of  the  Hebrews : — “  I  am  the 
Lord,  and  there  is  none  else ;  there  is  no  God  besides  me. 
I  form  the  light,  and  create  darkness ;  I  make  peace  and 
create  evil ;  I,  the  Lord,  do  all  these  things.” 

But  it  is  not  only  in  such  sublimity  of  language  and  ex¬ 
alted  imagery  that  the  literature  of  the  Hebrews  surpasses 
the  writings  of  the  most  learned  and  ingenious  portion  of  the 
heathen  world.  A  distinction  not  less  remarkable  is  to  be 
found  in  the  humane  and  compassionate  spirit  which  ani¬ 
mates  even  the  earliest  parts  of  the  sacred  volume,  com¬ 
posed  at  a  time  when  the  manners  of  all  nations  were  still 
unrefined,  and  the  softer  emotions  were  not  held  in  honour. 
“  Blessed  is  he  who  considereth  the  poor  and  needy  ;  the 
Lord  will  deliver  him  in  the  time  of  trouble.  The  Lord 
will  preserve  him  and  keep  him  alive ;  he  shall  be  blessed 
upon  earth,  and  thou  wilt  not  deliver  him  into  the  will  of 
his  enemies.  The  Lord  will  strengthen  him  upon  the  bed 
of  languishing ;  thou  wilt  make  all  his  bed  in  his  sickness.” 

We  shall  in  vain  seek  for  instances  of  such  a  benign  and 
liberal  feeling  in  the  volumes  of  the  most  enlightened  of 
pagan  writers,  whether  poets  or  orators.  How  beautifully 
does  the  following  observation  made  by  Solomon  contrast 
with  the  contempt  expressed  by  Horace  for  the  great  body 
of  his  countrymen  : — “  He  that  despiseth  his  neighbour  sin- 
neth ;  but  he  that  hath  mercy  on  the  poor  happy  is  he.  He 
that  oppresseth  the  poor  reproacheth  his  Maker.” 


98 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


Among  the  Israelites  there  was  no  distinction  as  to  lite¬ 
rary  privilege  or  philosophical  sectarianism.  There  was  no 
profane  vulgar  in  the  chosen  people.  The  stores  of  Divine 
knowledge  were  open  to  all  alike.  The  descendant  of  Jacob 
beheld  in  every  member  of  his  tribe  a  brother,  and  not  a 
master  ;  one  who  in  all  the  respects  which  give  to  man  dig¬ 
nity  and  self-esteem  was  his  equal  in  the  strictest  sense  of 
the  term.  Hence  the  noble  flame  of  patriotism  which  glowed 
in  all  the  Hebrew  institutions  before  the  people  became  cor¬ 
rupted  by  idolatry  and  a  too  frequent  intercourse  with  the 
surrounding  tribes  ;  and  hence,  too,  the  still  more  noble 
spirit  of  fraternal  affection  which  breathed  in  their  ancient 
law,  their  devotional  writers,  and  their  prophets. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  in  order  to  prevent  any  part 
of  the  sacred  oracles  from  becoming  obsolete  or  falling  into 
oblivion,  the  inspired  lawgiver  leffcan  injunction  to  read  the 
books  which  bear  his  name,  in  the  hearing  of  all  the  people, 
at  the  end  of  every  seven  years  at  farthest.  “  And  Moses 
wrote  this  law,  and  delivered  it  unto  the  priests,  the  sons 
of  Levi,  which  bare  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  and 
unto  all  the  elders  of  Israel.  And  Moses  commanded  them, 
saying,  At  the  end  of  every  seven  years,  in  the  solemnity 
of  the  year  of  release,  in  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  when  all 
Israel  is  come  to  appear  before  the  Lord  thy  God  in  the 
place  which  he  shall  choose,  thou  slialt  read  this  law  before 
all  Israel  in  their  hearing.  Gather  the  people  together,  men, 
and  women,  and  children,  and  thy  stranger  that  is  within 
thy  gates,  that  they  may  hear,  and  that  they  may  learn,  and 
fear  the  Lord  your  God,  and  observe  to  do  all  the  words  of 
this  law :  and  that  their  children  which  have  not  known 
any  thing  may  hear,  and  learn  to  fear  the  Lord  your  God, 
as  long  as  ye  live  in  the  land  whither  ye  go  over  Jordan  to 
possess  it.”* 

The  value  of  the  Levitical  institution,  whence  originated 
the  schools  of  the  prophets,  will  be  the  most  highly  appre¬ 
ciated  by  those  readers  who  have  noted  the  evils  which  arose 
from  its  suppression  among  the  ten  tribes,  and  finally,  in 
the  kingdom  of  Judah  itself.  The  separation  of  the  Israel¬ 
ites  under  Jeroboam  led,  in  the  first  instance,  to  a  defection 
from  the  Mosaic  ritual,  and,  in  the  end,  to  the  establishment 

*  Deut.  xxxi.  9-14, 


OF  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS.  99 

of  a  rival  worship, — a  revolution  which  compelled  all  the 

ILevites  who  remained  attached  to  the  primitive  faith  to  de¬ 
sert  such  of  their  cities  as  belonged  to  the  revolted  tribes, 
and  to  seek  an  asylum  among  their  brethren  who  acknow¬ 
ledged  the  successor  of  Solomon.  Hence  the  reign  of  idol¬ 
atry  and  that  total  neglect  of  the  law  which  disgraced  the 
government  of  the  new  dynasty  ;  though  it  must  be  granted, 
that  with  a  view  to  perpetuate  their  relationship  to  the 
father  of  the  faithful,  the  people  preserved  certain  copies 
of  the  Pentateuch,  even  after  the  desolation  of  their  land  and 
the  complete  extinction  of  their  political  independence. 

It  is  more  surprising  to  find,  that  even  among  the  ortho¬ 
dox  Hebrews  at  Jerusalem  the  law  sank  into  a  gradual 
oblivion  ;  insomuch  that  in  the  days  of  Jehoshaphat,  the  fifth 
from  David,  it  was  found  necessary  to  appoint  a  special 
commission  of  Levites  and  priests  to  revive  the  knowledge 
of  its  holy  sanctions  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  “  And  they 
taught  in  Judah,  and  had  the  book  of  the  law  of  the  Lord 
with  them,  and  went  about  throughout  all  the  cities  of 
Judah,  and  taught  the  people.”* 

At  a  later  period,  after  a  succession  of  idolatrous  princes, 
the  neglect  of  the  Mosaical  writings  became  still  more  gene¬ 
ral,  till  at  length  the  very  manuscript,  or  book  of  the  law, 

i  which  used  to  be  read  in  the  ears  of  the  congregation,  could 
nowhere  be  found.  Josiah,  famed  for  his  piety  and  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  national  religion,  gave  orders 
to  repair  the  Temple  for  the  worship  of  Jehovah  ;  on  which 
occasion,  Hilkiah,  the  high-priest,  found  the  precious  record 
in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  sent  it  to  the  king.f  A  mo¬ 
mentary  zeal  bound  the  people  once  more  to  the  belief  and 
usages  of  their  ancestors ;  but  the  example  of  the  profane 
or  careless  sovereigns  who  afterward  filled  the  throne  of 
Josiah  plunged  the  country  once  more  into  guilt,  obliterat¬ 
ing  all  recollection  of  the  divine  statutes,  at  least  as  a  code 
of  public  law.  The  captivity  throws  a  temporary  cloud 
over  the  Hebrew  annals,  and  prevents  us  from  tracing  be¬ 
yond  that  point  the  progress  of  opinion  on  this  interesting 
subject.  But  upon  the  return  from  Babylon  a  new  era 
commences  ;  and  we  now  observe  the  same  people,  who  in 
their  prosperity  were  constantly  deviating  into  the  grossest 


*  2  Chronicles  xvii.  9. 


t  2  Kings  xxii.  8. 


100 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


superstitions  and  most  contemptible  idolatry,  remarkable  for 
a  rigid  adherence  to  the  ritual  of  Moses,  and  for  a  severe 
intolerance  towards  all  who  questioned  its  heavenly  origin 
or  its  universal  obligation.  Ezra  is  understood  to  have 
charged  himself  with  the  duty  of  collecting  and  arranging 
the  manuscripts  which  had  survived  the  desolation  inflicted 
upon  his  country  by  the  arms  of  Assyria,  at  the  same  time 
substituting  for  the  more  ancient  characters  usually  known 
as  the  Samaritan  the  Chaldean  alphabet,  to  which  his  fol¬ 
lowers  had  now  become  accustomed.  From  these  notices, 
however,  which  respect  a  later  period,  we  return  to  the  more 
primitive  times  immediately  succeeding  the  era  of  the  com¬ 
monwealth. 

We  have  ascribed  the  cultivation  of  sacred  knowledge  to 
the  schools  of  the  prophets,  without  having  been  able  to 
trace  very  distinctly  the  institution  of  these  seminaries  to  the 
Levitical  colleges,  the  proper  fountains  of  the  national  lite¬ 
rature.  In  the  days  of  Samuel,  it  would  appear  that  the 
necessity  of  certain  subordinate  establishments  had  been  ad¬ 
mitted,  in  order  to  supply  a  class  of  persons  qualified  to 
instruct  such  of  the  people  as  lived  at  a  distance  from  the 
cities  of  the  Levites.  The  rule  of  the  prophetical  schools 
seems  to  have  borne  some  resemblance  to  that  of  the  better 
description  of  Christian  convents  in  the  primitive  ages,  en¬ 
joining  abstinence  and  labour,  together  with  an  implicit 
obedience  to  the  authority  of  their  superiors.  The  clothing, 
also,  it  may  be  presumed,  was  humble,  and  somewhat  pecu¬ 
liar.  A  rough  garment  fastened  with  a  girdle  round  The 
loins  is  alluded  to  by  Zechariah  ;  while  the  impression  made 
on  the  courtiers  at  Ramoth-gilead  by  the  appearance  of  one 
of  the  sons  of  the  prophets  sent  thither  by  Elisha  would  lead 
us  to  the  same  conclusion.  “  Wherefore,”  said  they,  “  came 
this  mad  fellow  to  thee  1”  Nor  is  it  without  reason  that 
some  authors  have  attributed  the  conduct  of  the  children 
who  mocked  Elisha  to  the  uncouthness  of  his  dress  and  to 
the  want  of  a  covering  for  his  head.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  from  the  societies  now  mentioned 
sprang  the  most  distinguished  men  who  adorned  the  hap¬ 
piest  era  of  the  Jewish  church. 

Were  we  allowed  to  form  a  judgment  from  the  few  inci¬ 
dents  recorded  in  the  books  of  the  Kings,  we  should  con¬ 
clude  that  the  accomplishment  of  writing  was  not  very 


OP  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 


101 


general  among  the  subjects  of  David  and  Solomon.  It  is 
ingeniously  conjectured  by  Michaelis,  that  Joab,  the  captain 
of  the  host,  and  sister’s  son  of  the  inspired  monarch  him¬ 
self,  could  not  handle  the  pen  ;  else  he  would  not,  for  the 
purpose  of  concealing  from  the  bearer  the  real  object  for 
which  he  was  sent,  have  found  it  necessary  to  tax  his  inge¬ 
nuity  by  putting  the  very  suspicious  detail  of  Uriah’s  death 
into  the  mouth  of  a  messenger  to  be  delivered  verbally  to 
the  king.  He  would  at  once  have  written  to  him  that  the 
devoted  man  was  killed.* 

As  to  science  in  its  higher  branches,  we  cannot  expect 
any  proofs  of  eminence  among  a  secluded  people,  devoted, 
as  the  Hebrews  were,  to  the  pursuits  of  agriculture  and  the 
feeding  of  cattle.  Solomon,  indeed,  is  said  to  have  been 
acquainted  with  all  the  productions  of  nature,  from  the 
cedar  of  Libanus  to  the  hyssop  on  the  wall ;  and  we  may 
readily  believe,  that  the  curiosity  which  distinguished  his 
temper  would  find  some  gratification  in  the  researches  of 
natural  history, — the  first  study  of  the  opening  mind  in  the 
earliest  stage  of  social  life.  But  astronomy  had  not  ad¬ 
vanced  farther  than  to  present  an  interesting  subject  of  con¬ 
templation  to  the  pious  mind,  which  could  only  regard  the 
firmament  as  a  smooth  surface  spread  out  like  a  curtain,  or 
bearing  some  resemblance  to  the  canopy  of  a  spacious  tent. 
The  schools  of  the  prophets,  we  may  presume,  were  still 
strangers  to  those  profound  calculations  which  determine 
the  distance,  the  magnitude,  and  the  periodical  revolutions 
of  the  heavenly  bodies.  Even  the  sages  of  Chaldea,  who 
boast  a  more  ancient  civilization  than  is  claimed  by  the 
Hebrews,  satisfied  themselves  with  a  few  facts  which  they 
had  not  learned  to  generalize,  and  sometimes  with  conjec¬ 
tures  which  had  hardly  any  relation  to  a  fixed  principle  or 
a  scientific  object.  Long  after  the  reign  of  David,  these 
wise  men  had  not  distinguished  the  study  of  the  stars  from 
the  dreams  of  astrology. 

The  first  application  of  astronomical  principle  is  to  the 
division  of  time,  as  marked  out  by  the  periodical  movements 
of  the  heavenly  bodies.  The  Hebrews  combined  in  their 
Calculations  a  reference  to  the  sun  and  to  the  moon,  so  as 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  natural  measure  supplied  by  each. 

*  2  Samuel  xi.  18, 22.  Commentaries  on  Laws  of  Moses,  vol.  i.  p.  257. 

12 


102 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


Their  year  accordingly  was  lunisolar,  consisting  of  twelve 
lunar  months,  with  an  intercalation  to  make  the  whole 
agree  with  the  annual  course  of  the  sun.  The  year  was 
further  distinguished  as  being  either  common  or  ecclesias¬ 
tical.  The  former  began  at  the  autumnal  equinox,  the 
season  at  which  they  imagined  the  world  was  created; 
while  the  latter,  by  Divine  appointment,  commenced  about 
six  months  earlier,  the  period  when  their  fathers  were  de¬ 
livered  from  the  thraldom  of  Egypt.  Their  months  always 
began  with  the  new  moon ;  and  before  the  captivity  they 
were  merely  named  according  to  their  order,  the  first, 
second,  third,  and  so  on  down  to  the  twelfth.  But  upon 
their  return  they  used  the  terms  which  they  found  employed 
in  Babylon,  according  to  the  following  series  : — 


Nisan* . March. 

Zif,  or  Ijar . April. 

Sivan . May. 

Tamuz . June. 

Ab . July. 

Elul . August. 

Ethanim,  or  Tisri . September. 

Bui,  or  Mareshuan . October. 

Chisleu . . November. 

Tebeth . December. 

Sebat . January. 

Adar . . February. 


One-half  of  these  months  consisted  of  thirty  days,  the 
other  of  twenty-nine,  alternately,  making  in  all  three  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty-four.  To  supply  the  eleven  days  and  six 
hours  which  were  deficient,  they  introduced  every  second 
year  an  additional  month  of  twenty-two  days,  and  every 
fourth  year  one  of  twenty-three  days  ;  by  which  means 
they  approached  as  nearly  to  the  true  measure  as  any  other 
nation  had  attained  till  the  establishment  of  the  Gregorian 
calendar. 

The  Hebrews  divided  the  space  from  sunrise  to  sunset 
into  twelve  equal  parts,  and  hence  the  hours  of  their  day 
varied  in  length  according  to  the  season  of  the  year.  For 
example,  when  the  sun  rose  at  five  and  set  at  seven,  an 

*  Nisan  was  sometimes  called  Abib,  as  descriptive  of  the  state  of 
vegetation  in  that  month, — the  earing  of  the  corn  and  the  blooming  of 
the  fruit-trees. 


OF  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 


103 


hour  contained  seventy  minutes  ;  but  when  it  rose  at  seven 
and  set  at  five,  the  hour  was  reduced  to  fifty  minutes,  and 
so  on  in  proportion  to  the  duration  of  the  time  that  the  sun 
was  above  the  horizon.  A  similar  rule  applied  to  the 
night,  which  was  likewise  divided  into  twelve  equal 
portions. 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  however,  that  the  observations 
now  made  apply  rather  to  the  acquirements  of  the  Jews 
after  their  return  from  the  East,  than  to  the  more  simple 
condition  in  which  they  appear  under  their  judges  and 
prophets. 

Next  to  the  learning  of  this  early  period,  the  reader  of 
the  sacred  history  will  have  his  curiosity  excited  in  regard 
to  the  time,  the  place,  and  the  manner  of  religious  worship. 
When  the  Israelites  had  obtained  possession  of  the  Holy 
Land,  and  distributed  the  territory  among  their  tribes,  the 
tabernacle,  or  ambulatory  temple,  was  placed  at  Shiloh,  a 
town  in  the  possession  of  Ephraim.  To  that  sacred  re¬ 
treat  the  Hebrews  were  wont  to  travel  at  the  three  great 
festivals,  to  accomplish  the  service  enjoined  by  their  law. 

But  it  appears  that  a  more  ordinary  kind  of  religious 
duty  was  performed  at  certain  stations  within  the  several 
tribes,  in  the  intervals  between  the  stated  feasts  appointed 
for  the  whole  nation ;  having  some  reference,  it  is  probable, 
to  the  periodical  return  of  the  Sabbath  and  new  moons. 
For  this  purpose  the  people  seem  to  have  repaired  to  high 
places,  where  they  might  more  readily  perceive  the  lunar 
crescent,  and  give  utterance  to  their  customary  expression 
of  gratitude  and  joy.  This  species  of  adoration  was  con¬ 
nived  at  rather  than  authorized  by  the  priests  and  Levites, 
who  found  it  impossible  to  check  altogether  the  propensity 
of  the  multitude  to  perform  their  worship  on  the  high  hill 
and  under  the  green  tree.  Samuel,  the  prophet  and  judge, 
saw  the  expediency  on  one  occasion  of  building  an  altar 
unto  the  Lord  on  Ramah,  which  is  called  the  High  Place  ; 
and  in  the  reign  of  Solomon  the  same  practice  was  con¬ 
tinued,  “  because  there  was  no  house  built  unto  the  name 
of  the  Lord  until  those  days.”* 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  with  precision  at  what  epoch 
the  Hebrews  first  formed  those  meetings  or  congregations 


*  1  Kings  iii.  2. 


104 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


which  are  called  synagogues, — a  name  afterward  more  fre" 
quently  applied  to  the  buildings  in  which  they  convened-' 
The  ear  liest  allusion  to  them  is  found  in  the  seventy-fourth 
Psalm,  where  the  writer,  describing  the  havoc  committed 
by  the  Assyrians,  remarks,  “  they  have  burnt  up  all  the 
synagogues  of  God  in  the  land.”  We  might  infer,  from 
this  statement  alone*  that  such  edifices  were  common  before 
the  Babylonian  captivity  ;  but  we  are  supplied  with  a  more 
direct  proof  in  the  words  of  St.  James,  who  informs  us, 
that  “  Moses  of  old  time  hath  in  every  city  them  that  preach 
him,  being  read  in  the  synagogues  every  Sabbath-day.”* 

The  duty  in  these  places,  which  was  confined  to  prayer 
and  exposition,  was  performed  by  that  section  of  the  Levites 
who  are  usually  denominated  scribes ;  the  higher  office  of 
sacrifice,  the  scene  of  which  was  first  the  tabernacle  and 
afterward  the  temple,  being  confined  to  the  priests,  the  sons 
of  Aaron.  Perhaps  in  remote  places,  where  the  population 
was  small,  the  inhabitants  met  in  the  house  of  the  Levite, 
a  conjecture  which  derives  some  plausibility  from  an  af¬ 
fecting  incident  mentioned  in  the  second  book  of  the  Kings. 
When  the  son  of  the  woman  of  Shunern  died,  “  she  called 
unto  her  husband  and  said,  send  me,  I  pray  thee,  one  of  the 
young  men,  and  one  of  the  asses,  that  I  may  run  to  the 
man  of  God.  And  he  said,  wherefore  wilt  thou  go  1  it  is 
neither  new  moon  nor  Sabbath.”  It  is  reasonable  to  con¬ 
clude,  that  on  these  days  it  was  customary  to  repair  to  the 
dwelling  of  the  holy  man  for  religious  purposes. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  fact,  that  at  the  first  set¬ 
tlement  of  the  Promised  Land  the  tabernacle  was  estab¬ 
lished  in  Shiloh,  a  village  in  Ephraim,  at  that  time  the  most 
numerous  and  powerful  of  all  the  tribes.  The  profanity  or 
disobedience  of  the  people  in  this  district  led  to  the  removal 
of  the  Divine  presence,  the  symbols  of  which  wrere  com¬ 
manded  to  be  deposited  in  Jerusalem.  “  Go  ye,”  says  the 
prophet  Jeremiah,  “unto  my  place  which  was  in  Shiloh, 
where  I  set  my  name  at  the  first  ;  and  see  what  I  did  to  it 
for  the  wickedness  of  my  people  Israel.”  Hence  the  ori¬ 
gin  of  the  feud  which  subsisted  so  long  between  Ephraim  and 
Judah,  and  afterward  between  the  Jews  and  Samaritans,  in 
regard  to  the  spot  where  Jehovah  ought  to  be  worshipped. 


*  Acts  xv.  21. 


OF  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 


105 


Each  laid  claim  to  a  Divine  appointment ;  neither  would 
yield  to  the  other  or  hold  the  slightest  intercourse  in  their 
adoration  of  the  same  great  Being ;  and  the  question  re¬ 
mained  as  far  as  ever  from  being  determined  when  the  Ro¬ 
mans  finally  cut  down  all  distinctions  by  their  victorious  arms. 

Our  limits  will  not  permit  us  to  indulge  in  a  minute  ac¬ 
count  of  the  Jewish  festivals.  •  Still  the  three  great  insti¬ 
tutions  at  which  all  the  males  of  the  Hebrew  nation  were 
commanded  to  appear  before  Jehovah  are  so  frequently 
mentioned  in  the  history  of  the  Holy  Land,  that  we  must 
take  leave  to  specify  their  general  objects.  The  feast  of 
the  Passover,  comprehending  that  of  unleavened  bread, 
commemorated  the  signal  deliverance  of  this  wonderful 
people  from  the  tyranny  of  Pharaoh.  It  was  to  be  kept 
upon  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  first  month,  to  last  seven  days, 
and  to  begin,  as  all  their  festivals  began,  the  evening  before 
at  the  going  down  of  the  sun. 

The  reader  will  attend  to  the  distinction  just  stated — the 
beginning  and  end  of  their  sacred  days.  The  celebration 
of  the  ordinary  Sabbath,  indeed,  commenced  on  the  eve¬ 
ning  of  Friday,  and  terminated  at  the  going  down  of  the 
sun  on  Saturday.  “  From  even  unto  even  shall  ye  celebrate 
your  Sabbaths.”  But  the  Jews,  in  the  concluding  period 
of  their  government,  had  innovated  so  far  on  the  Mosaical 
institution  as  to  prohibit  the  passover  from  being  observed 
on  Monday,  Wednesday,  or  Friday,  and  to  appoint  the  cele¬ 
bration  of  it  on  the  following  day.  The  year  in  which  our 
Lord  suffered  death  this  great  annual  feast  fell  on  a  Fri¬ 
day — beginning,  as  already  stated,  at  sunset  on  Thursday 
evening — and  the  Redeemer  accordingly,  who  came  to  fulfil 
all  righteousness,  ate  the  paschal  supper  with  his  disciples 
on  the  evening  of  Thursday.  Yet  the  Jews,  we  find  from 
the  evangelical  narrative,  were  not  to  observe  that  rite  till 
the  following  evening ;  and  hence,  the  early  part  of  Friday 
being  the  preparation,  they  would  not  go  into  the  judgment 
hall  “  lest  they  should  be  defiled,  but  that  they  might  eat 
the  passover”  after  the  going  down  of  the  sun.  For  the 
same  reason  they  besought  Pilate  that  the  bodies  might  be 
removed;  intimating  that  the  day  which  was  to  begin  at 
sunset  was  to  them  a  high  day,  being  in  fact  not  only  the 
Sabbath,  but  also  the  paschal  feast,  both  extremely  solemn 
in  the  estimation  of  every  true  Israelite. 


106 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


On  the  ground  now  stated  is  easily  explained  the  appa¬ 
rent  discrepancy  between  the  account  given  by  St.  John  and 
that  of  the  other  Evangelists.  They  tell  us  that  our  Lord 
celebrated  the  passover  on  Thursday  evening,  the  first  day 
of  the  yearly  festival ;  whereas  the  beloved  disciple  relates, 
that  the  next  morning  was  still  the  preparation  of  that 
ordinance  which  was  to  be  observed  by  the  whole  nation 
the  ensuing  night.  Both  statements  are  perfectly  correct; 
only  our  Saviour  adhered  to  the  day  fixed  by  the  original 
institution,  while  the  priests  and  lawyers  followed  the  rule 
established  by  the  Sanhedrim,  which  threw  the  festival  a 
day  after  its  proper  time. 

The  proper  preparation  indeed  of  every  festival  began 
only  at  three  o’clock,  called  by  the  Hebrews  the  ninth 
hour,  and  continued  till  the  close  of  the  day,  or  the  disap¬ 
pearance  of  the  sun.  It  was  at  that  hour,  accordingly, 
that  the  Jews  entreated  the  governor  to  take  down  the 
bodies  from  the  cross  ;  holding  it  extremely  improper  that 
any  token  of  a  curse  or  capital  punishment  should  meet 
their  eyes  while  making  ready  to  kill  the  paschal  lamb. 

The  Feast  of  Pentecost  was  an  annual  offering  of  grati¬ 
tude  to  Jehovah  for  having  blessed  the  land  with  increase. 
It  took  place  fifty  days  after  the  passover,  and  hence  the 
origin  of  its  name  in  the  Greek  version  of  our  Scriptures. 
Another  appellation  was  applied  to  it — the  Feast  of  Weeks 
— for  the  reason  assigned  by  the  inspired  lawgiver. 
“  Seven  weeks  shalt  thou  number  unto  thee  ;  beginning  to 
number  the  seven  weeks  from  such  time  as  thou  puttest  the 
sickle  to  the  corn.  And  thou  shalt  keep  the  feast  of  weeks 
unto  the  Lord  thy  God  with  a  tribute  of  a  free-will  offering 
of  thine  hand,  in  the  place  which  Jehovah  shall  choose  to 
place  his  name  there.  And  thou  shalt  remember  that  thou 
wast  a  bondman  in  Egypt.”*  t 

This  was  a  very  suitable  celebration  in  an  agricultural 
society,  where  joy  is  always  experienced  upon  the  gathering 
in  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  The  Hebrews  were  espe¬ 
cially  desired  on  that  happy  occasion  to  contrast  their 
improved  condition,  as  freemen  reaping  their  own  lands, 
with  the  miserable  state  from  which  they  had  been  rescued 
by  the  good  providence  of  Jehovah.  The  month  of  May 


*  Deut.  xvi.  9—12. 


OF  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 


107 


■ 

witnessed  the  harvest-home  of  all  Palestine  in  the  days  of 
Moses,  as  well  as  in  the  present  times  ;  and  no  sooner  was 
the  pleasant  toil  of  filling  their  barns  completed,  than  all 
the  males  repaired  to  the  holy  city  with  the  appointed  tribute 
in  their  hands,  and  the  song  of  praise  in  their  mouths. 
Jewish  antiquaries  inform  us,  that  there  was  combined  with 
this  eucharistical  service  a  commemoration  of  the  wonders 
which  took  place  at  Mount  Sinai,  when  the  Lord  conde¬ 
scended  to  pronounce  his  law  in  the  ears  of  his  people. 

EThe  history  of  our  own  religion  has  supplied  a  greater 
event,  which  at  once  supersedes  the  pious  recollections  of 
the  Hebrew,  and  touches  the  heart  of  the  Christian  wor¬ 
shipper  with  the  feeling  of  a  more  enlightened  gratitude. 

The  termination  of  the  vintage  was  marked  with  a 
similar  expression  of  thanksgiving,  uttered  by  the  assem¬ 
bled  tribes  in  the  place  which  had  received  the  “Name  of 
Jehovah  the  visible  manifestation  of  his  presence  and 
power.  The  precept  for  this  observance  is  given  in  the 
following  terms : — “  On  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  seventh 
month,  when  ye  have  gathered  in  the  fruit  of  the  land,  ye 
shall  keep  a  feast  unto  the  Lord  seven  days.  And  ye  shall 
take  unto  you,  on  the  first  day,  the  boughs  of  goodly 
trees,  branches  of  palm-trees,  and  the  boughs  of  thick  trees 
and  willows  of  the  brook ;  and  ye  shall  rejoice  before  the 
Lord  your  God  seven  days.  Ye  shall  dwell  in  booths  seven 
days,  that  your  generations  may  know  that  I  made  the 
children  of  Israel  to  dwell  in  booths  when  I  brought  them 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.” 

This  festival  was  of  the  most  lively  and  animated  de¬ 
scription,  celebrated  with  a  joyous  heart,  and  under  the 
canopy  of  heaven,  in  a  most  delightful  season  of  the  year. 
If  more  exquisite  music  and  more  graceful  dances  accom¬ 
panied  the  gathering  in  of  the  grapes  on  the  banks  of  the 
Cephisus,  the  tabret  and  the  viol  and  the  harp,  which 
sounded  around  the  walls  of  the  sacred  metropolis,  were 
not  wanting  in  sweetness  and  gayety  ;  and,  instead  of  the 
frantic  riot  of  satyrs  and  bacchanals,  the  rejoicing  was 
chastened  by  the  solemn  religious  recollections  with  which 
it  was  associated,  in  a  manner  remarkably  pleasing  and 
picturesque.* 

The  Feast  of  Trumpets  had  a  reference  to  the  mode 
*  History  of  the  Jews,  vol.  i.  p.  99. 


108 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


practised  by  many  of  the  ancients  for  announcing  the 
commencement  of  seasons  and  epochs.  The  beginning  of 
every  month  was  made  known  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem  by  the  sound  of  musical  instruments.  “  Blow  up  the 
trumpet  in  the  new  moon,  in  the  time  appointed,  on  our 
solemn  feast-day :  for  this  was  a  statute  for  Israel,  a  law  of 
the  God  of  Jacob.”  As  the  first  day  of  the  moon  in  Sep¬ 
tember  was  the  beginning  of  the  civil  year,  the  festivity 
was  greater  and  more  solemn  than  on  other  occasions. 
The  voice  of  the  trumpets  waxed  louder  than  usual,  and 
the  public  mind  was  instructed  by  a  grdve  assurance  from 
the  mouth  of  the  proper  officer,  that  another  year  was 
added  to  the  age  of  the  world.  “  In  the  seventh  month, 
in  the  first  day  of  the  month,  shall  ye  have  a  Sabbath,  a 
memorial  of  blowing  of  trumpets,  an  holy  convocation.  Ye 
shall  do  no  servile  work  therein  ;  but  ye  shall  offer  an  offer¬ 
ing  made  by  fire  unto  the  Lord.”* 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  jubilee  which  occurred 
periodically  after  the  lapse  of  forty-nine  years,  or,  as  the 
Jews  were  wont  to  express  it,  after  a  week  of  Sabbaths. 
The  benevolent  uses  of  this  most  generous  institution  are 
known  to  every  reader,  more  especially  as  they  respected 
personal  freedom  and  the  restoration  of  lands  and  houses. 
Great  care  was  taken  by  the  Jewish  legislator  to  prevent  an 
accumulation  of  property  in  one  individual,  or  even  in  one 
tribe.  Nor  was  his  anxiety  less  to  prevent  the  alienation 
of  land,  either  by  sale,  mortgage,  or  marriage.  With  this 
view  we  find  him  enacting  a  rule,  suggested  by  the  case  of 
the  daughters  of  Zelophedad,  who  had  been  allowed  to 
become  heirs  to  their  father,  of  which  the  object  was  to 
perpetuate  the  possession  of  landed  estates  within  the  limits 
of  each  particular  tribe.  The  heads  of  the  chief  families 
of  Manasseh,  to  which  community  the  young  women 
belonged,  came  before  Moses  and  the  Princes  of  Israel, 
when,  after  reminding  these  dignitaries  of  the  fact  just 
mentioned,  they  said,  “  If  they  be  married  to  any  of  the 
sons  of  the  other  tribes,  then  shall  their  inheritance  be  taken 
from  the  inheritance  of  our  fathers,  and  shall  be  put  to  the 
inheritance  of  the  tribe  whereunto  they  are  received ;  so 
shall  it  be  taken  from  the  lot  of  our  inheritance.  And  when 


*  Lev.  xiii.  24,  25. 


or  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS. 


109 


the  jubilee  of  the  children  of  Israel  shall  be,  then  shall  their 
inheritance  be  put  unto  the  inheritance  of  the  tribe  where- 
unto  they  are  received :  so  shall  their  inheritance  be  taken 
away  from  the  inheritance  of  the  tribe  of  our  fathers.” 

To  this  judicious  remonstrance  Moses  gave  the  following 
answer  : — “  This  is  the  thing  which  the  Lord  doth  command 
concerning  the  daughters  of  Zelophedad  ;  let  them  marry  to 
whom  they  think  best ;  only  to  the  family  of  the  tribe  of  their 
father  shall  they  marry.  And  every  daughter  that  possess¬ 
ed  an  inheritance  shall  be  wife  unto  one  of  the  family  of 
the  tribe  of  her  father,  that  the  children  of  Israel  may  enjoy 
every  man  the  inheritance  of  his  fathers.  Neither  shall 
the  inheritance  remove  from  one  tribe  to  another  tribe  ;  but 
every  one  of  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel  shall  keep 
himself  to  his  own  inheritance.”* 

Besides  the  anniversaries  enjoined  by  Divine  authority, 
the  Hebrews  observed  several  which  were  meant  to  keep 
alive  the  remembrance  of  certain  great  events  recorded  in 
their  history.  Of  these  was  the  Feast  of  Dedication  men¬ 
tioned  by  St.  John,  referring,  it  has  been  thought,  to  the 
purification  of  the  altar  by  Judas  Maccabseus,  after  it  had 
been  profaned  by  Antiochus,  the  king  of  Syria.  When  the 
ceremony  was  performed,  “  Judas  and  his  brethren,  with 
the  whole  congregation  of  Israel,  ordained  that  the  days  of 
the  dedication  of  the  altar  should  be  kept  in  their  season, 
from  year  to  year,  by  the  space  of  eight  days,  from  the  five- 
and-twentieth  day  of  the  ninth  month  (November,)  with 
mirth  and  gladness.”f 

The  restoration  of  the  heavenly  fire  in  the  temple,  after 
the  return  from  Babylon,  was  likewise  commemorated  every 
year.  This  sacred  flame,  which  had  been  long  extinct,  was 
revived  on  the  altar  the  day  that  Nehemiah  performed  sacri¬ 
fice  in  the  new  building.  For  this  reason  the  Jews  of 
Palestine  wrote  to  those  in  Egypt,  recommending  an  annual 
festival  in  remembrance  of  an  event  so  important  to  their 
national  worship.  They  thought  it  necessary  to  certify 
them  of  the  fact,  that  their  brethren  also  might  celebrate 
the  “  feast  of  the  fire  which  was  given  us  wrhen  Neemias 
offered  sacrifice  after  that  he  had  builded  the  Temple  and 
the  altar.”t 

*  Numbers  xxxvi.  1-10.  T  John  x.  22. 

+  Maccab.  iv.  36,  &c.  2  Maccab.  i.  18,  19. 

K 


110 


LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION 


It  was  likewise  a  custom  among  this  singular  people,  that 
the  young  women  “  went  yearly  to  lament  the  daughter  of 
Jephthah,  the  Gileadite,  four  days  in  a  year.”  A  more 
joyous  ceremony,  on  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  days  of 
the  month  Adar,  reminded  the  faithful  Hebrew  of  the 
triumph  gained  by  his  kindred  over  the  cruel  and  perfidious 
Haman,  who  had  intended  to  extirpate  their  whole  race. 
Besides  these,  we  find  in  the  book  of  Zecharias  the  prophet 
an  allusion  to  the  “  fast  of  the  fourth  month,  and  the  fast 
of  the  fifth,  and  the  fast  of  the  seventh,  and  the  fast  of  the 
tenth  days  of  humiliation  which  probably  recalled  certain 
national  calamities,  such  as  the  destruction  of  their  city 
and  Temple,  and  the  era  of  their  long  captivity. 

In  concluding  this  chapter  on  the  literature  and  religion 
of  the  ancient  Hebrews,  we  may  remark,  in  regard  to  the 
system  bequeathed  to  them  by  Moses,  that  it  contains  the 
only  complete  body  of  law  which  was  ever  given  to  a  people 
at  one  time, — that  it  is  the  only  entire  body  of  law  which 
has  come  down  to  our  days, — that  it  is  the  only  body  of 
ancient  law  which  still  governs  an  existing  people, — that, 
the  nation  which  it  respects  being  scattered  over  the  face 
of  the  whole  earth,  it  is  the  only  body  of  law  that  is  equally 
observed  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe, — and,  finally, 
that  all  the  other  codes  of  law  of  which  history  has  pre¬ 
served  any  recollection,  were  given  to  communities  who 
already  had  written  statutes,  but  who  wished  to  change  their 
form  or  modify  their  application  ;  whereas,  in  this  case,  we 
behold  a  new  society  under  the  hands  of  a  legislator  who 
proceeds  to  lay  its  very  foundations.* 

It  may  be  said  of  the  Hebrews,  that  they  had  no  profane 
literature,  no  works  devoted  to  mere  amusement  or  relaxa¬ 
tion.  As  they  admitted  no  image  of  any  thing  in  heaven 
or  in  earth,  they  consequently  rejected  the  use  of  all  those 
arts  called  imitative,  and  which  supply  so  large  a  portion 
of  the  more  refined  enjoyment  characteristic  of  civilized 
nations.  In  like  manner,  they  seem  to  have  viewed  in  the 
light  of  sacrilege  every  attempt  to  bring  down  the  sublime 
language  in  which  they  praised  Jehovah  and  recorded  his 
mighty  works,  to  the  more  common  and  less  hallowed  pur- 

*  Croxall’s  Scripture  Politics,  p.  60,  85.  Histoire  des  H£breux,  par 
Rabelleau,  tom.  i.  p.  405.  Esprit  de  l’Histoire,  tom.  i.  p.  28- 


f 


OF  THE  ANCIENT  HEBREWS.  Ill 

poses  of  fictitious  narrative,  or  of  amatory,  dramatic,  and 
lyrical  composition.  The  Jews  have  no  epic  poem  to  throw 
a  lustre  on  the  early  annals  of  their  literature.  Even  the 
Song  of  Songs  is  allowed  to  have  a  spiritual  import,  point¬ 
ing  to  much  higher  themes  than  Solomon  and  his  Egyptian 
bride.  A  solemn  gravity  pervades  all  their  writings,  befitting 
a  people  who  were  charged  with  the  religious  history  of  the 
world  and  with  the  oracles  of  Divine  truth.  No  smile  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  ever  brightened  the  countenance  of  a  Jewish 
author, — no  trifling  thought  to  have  passed  through  his 
mind, — no  ludicrous  association  to  have  been  formed  in  his 
fancy.  In  describing  the  flood  of  Deucalion,  the  Roman 
poet  laughs  at  the  grotesque  misery  which  he  himself  ex¬ 
hibits,  and  purposely  groups  together  objects  with  the  inten¬ 
tion  of  exciting  in  his  readers  the  feeling  of  ridicule.  But 
in  no  instance  can  we  detect  the  faintest  symptom  of  levity 
in  the  Hebrew  penmen ;  their  style,  like  their  subject,  is 
uniformly  exalted,  chaste,  and  severe  ;  they  wrote  to  men 
concerning  the  things  of  God,  in  a  manner  suitable  to  such 
a  momentous  communication ;  and  they  never  ceased  to 
remember  that,  in  all  their  records,  whether  historical  or 
prophetic,  they  were  employed  in  propagating  those  glad 
tidings  by  which  all  the  families  of  the  earth  were  to  be 
blessed. 

There  can  be  no  stronger  proof  of  the  pure  and  sublime 
nature  of  Hebrew  poetry  than  is  supplied  by  the  remarkable 
fact,  that  it  has  been  introduced  into  the  service  of  the 
Christian  church,  and  found  suitable  for  expressing  those 
lofty  sentiments  with  which  the  gospel  inspires  the  heart 
of  every  true  worshipper.  No  other  nation  of  the  ancient 
world  has  produced  a  single  poem  which  could  be  used  by 
an  enlightened  people  in  these  days  for  the  purposes  of  de¬ 
votion.*  Hesiod,  although  much  esteemed  for  the  moral 
tone  of  his  compositions,  presents  very  few  ideas  indeed 
capable  of  being  accommodated  to  the  theology  of  an  im- 

*  The  sentiment  contained  in  the  text  is  beautifully  expressed  in  the 
following  ode  by  Lord  Byron : 

“The  harp  the  monarch  minstrel  swept, 

The  king  of  men,  the  loved  of  Heaven, 

Which  music  hallowed  while  she  wept 
O’er  tones  her  heart  of  hearts  had  given, 

Redoubled  be  her  tears,  its  chords  are  riven  ! 


112  LITERATURE  AND  RELIGION,  ETC. 

proved  age.  In  perusing  the  works  of  the  greatest  writers 
of  paganism,  we  are  struck  with  a  monstrous  incongruity 
in  all  their  conceptions  of  the  Supreme  Being.  The  ma¬ 
jesty  with  which  the  Hebrews  surrounded  Jehovah  is 
entirely  wanting ;  the  attributes  belonging  to  the  great 
Sovereign  of  the  universe  are  not  appreciated ;  the  pro¬ 
vidence  of  the  Divine  mind,  united  with  benevolence, 
compassion,  and  mercy,  is  never  found  to  enter  into  their 
descriptions  of  the  eternal  First  Cause  ;  while  their  incessant 
deviations  into  polytheism  outrage  our  religious  feelings,  and 
carry  us  back  to  the  very  rudest  periods  of  human  history. 

In  these  respects  the  literature  of  the  Jews  is  far  exalted 
above  that  of  every  other  nation  of  which  history  has  pre¬ 
served  any  traces.  It  must  be  acknowledged,  that  we 
remain  ignorant  of  the  learning  and  theological  opinions 
cultivated  amoncr  the  Persians  at  the  time  when  the  Jews 

O  . 

were  under  their  dominion,  and  cannot  therefore  determine 
the  precise  extent  to  which  the  dogmas  of  the  captive  tribes 
were  affected  by  their  intercourse  with  a  race  of  men  who 
certainly  taught  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  unity,  and  ab¬ 
stained  from  idolatrous  usages.  But  confining  our  judg¬ 
ment  even  to  the  oldest  compositions  of  the  Hebrews,  those, 
for  example,  which  may  be  traced  to  the  days  of  Moses,  of 
Samuel,  and  of  David,  we  cannot  hesitate  to  pronounce  that 
they  are  distinguished  by  a  remarkable  peculiarity,  indicat¬ 
ing  by  the  most  unambiguous  tokens,  that,  in  all  things 
pertaining  to  religious  belief,  the  descendants  of  Jacob  were 
placed  under  a  special  superintendence  and  direction. 


It  softened  men  of  iron  mould, 

It  gave  them  virtues  not  their  own; 

No  ear  so  dull,- no  soul  so  cold, 

That  felt  not,  fired  not  to  the  tone, 

Till  David’s  lyre  grew  mightier  than  his  throne. 

II. 

lt  It  told  the  triumphs  of  our  King, 

It  wafted  glory  to  our  God ; 

It  made  our  gladden’d  valleys  ring, 

The  cedars  bow,  the  mountains  nod  ; 

Its  sound  aspired  to  heaven  and  there  abode  ! 
Since  then,  though  heard  on  earth  no  more, 
Devotion  and  her  daughter  Love 
Still  bid  the  bursting  spirit  soar 
To  sounds  that  seem  as  from  above, 

In  dreams  that  day’s  broad  light  cannot  remove, 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


113 


CHAPTER  V. 

Description  of  Jerusalem. 

Pilgrimages  to  the  Holy  Land — Arculfus — Willibald — Bernard — Effect 
of  Crusades— William  de  Bouldesell — Bertrandon  de  la  Broquiere — 
State  of  Damascus— Breidenbach— Baumgarten— Bartholemeo  George- 
witz— Aldersey — Sandys— Doubdan — Cheron — Thevenot— Gonzales— 
Morison— Maundrell— Pococke — Road  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem— Plain 
of  Sharon — Rama  or  Ramla — Condition  of  the  Peasantry — Vale  of 
Jeremiah — Jerusalem— Remark  of  Chateaubriand— Impressions  of 
different  Travellers — Dr.  Clarke — Tasso— Volney— Henniker — Mosque 
of  Omar  described— Mysterious  Stone — Church  of  Holy  Sepulchre — 
Ceremonies  of  Good  Friday — Easter — The  Sacred  Fire — Grounds  for 
Skepticism — Folly  of  the  Priests— Emotion  upon  entering  the  Holy 
Tomb — Description  of  Chateaubriand— Holy  Places  in  the  City— On 
Mount  Zion— Pool  of  Siloam — Fountain  of  the  Virgin — Valley  of  Je- 
hoshaphat — Mount  of  Offence — The  Tombs  of  Zechariah,  of  Jehosha- 
phat,  and  of  Absalom— Jewish  Architecture — Dr.  Clarke’s  Opinion 
on  the  Topography  of  Ancient  Jerusalem — Opposed  bv  other  Writers 
— The  Inexpediency  of  such  Discussions. 

Having  described,  as  fully  as  the  plan  of  our  undertaking 
will  admit,  the  constitution,. history,  learning,  and  religion 
of  the  ancient  Hebrews,  we  now  proceed  to  give  an  account 
of  the  present  condition  of  the  country  which  they  inhab¬ 
ited  nearly  1500  years,  interrupted  only  by  short  intervals 
of  captivity  or  oppression.  The  connexion  which  Chris¬ 
tianity  acknowledges  with  the  people  and  soil  of  Judea 
has,  from  the  earliest  times,  given  a  deep  interest  to  travels 
in  the  Holy  Land.  The  curiosity  natural  to  man  in  respect 
to  things  which  have  obtained  celebrity,  joined  to  the  con¬ 
viction,  hardly  less  natural,  that  there  is  a  certain  merit  in 
enduring  privation  and  fatigue  for  the  sake  of  religion,  has 
in  every  age  induced  pilgrims  to  visit  the  scenes  where  our 
Divine  Faith  was  originally  established,  and  to  communi¬ 
cate  to  their  contemporaries  the  result  of  their  investiga¬ 
tions.  It  is  to  be  regretted,  indeed,  that  some  of  them  from 
ignorance,  and  others  from  a  feeling  of  the  weakest  bigotry, 
have  omitted  to  notice  those  very  objects  which  are  esteemed 
the  most  interesting  to  the  general  reader ;  thinking  it  their 


114 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM- 


duty,  as  one  of  them  expresses  it,  to  “  quench  all  spirit 
of  vain  curiosity,  lest  they  should  return  without  any 
benefit  to  their  souls.” 

About  the  year  705,  Jerusalem  and  its  holy  places  w'ere 
visited  by  Arculfus,  from  whose  report  Adamnan  composed 
a  narrative,  which  was  received  with  considerable  appro¬ 
bation.  He  describes  the  Temple  on  Mount-Calvary  with 
some  minuteness,  mentioning  its  twelve  pillars  and  eight 
gates.  But  his  attention  was  more  particularly  attracted 
by  relics,  those  objects  which  all  Jerusalem  flocked  to  han¬ 
dle  and  to  kiss  with  the  greatest  reverence.  He  saw  the 
cup  used  at  the  Last  Supper, — the  sponge  on  which  the 
vinegar  was  poured, — the  lance  which  pierced  the  side  of 
our  Lord, — the  cloth  in  which  he  was  wrapped, — also 
another  cloth  woven  by  the  Virgin  Mary,  whereon  were 
represented  the  figures  of  the  Saviour  and  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles. 

Eighty  years  later,  Willibald,  a  Saxon,  undertook  the 
same  journey,  influenced  by  similar  motives.  From  his 
infancy  he  had  been  distinguished  by  a  sage  and  pious  dis¬ 
position  ;  and,  on  emerging  from  boyhood,  he  was  seized 
with  an  anxious  desire  to  “  try  the  unknown  ways  of  pere¬ 
grination — to  pass  over  the  huge  wastes  of  ocean  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth.”  To  this  erratic  propensity  he  owed  all 
the  fame  which  a  place  in  the  Romish  calendar  and  the 
authorship  of  an  indifferent  book  can  confer.  In  Jerusalem 
he  saw  all  that  Arculfus  saw,  and  nothing  more  ;  but  he  had 
previously  visited  the  Tomb  of  the  Seven  Sleepers,  and  the 
cave  in  which  St.  John  wrote  the  Apocalypse. 

Bernard  proceeded  to  Palestine  in  the  year  878.  He 
travelled  first  in  Egypt,  and  from  thence  made  his  way 
across  the  Desert,  the  heat  of  which  recalled  vividly  to  his 
imagination  the  sloping  hills  of  Campania  when  covered 
with  snow.  At  Alexandria  he  was  subjected  to  tribute  by 
the  avaricious  governor,  who  paid  no  regard  to  the  written 
orders  of  the  sultan.  The  treatment  which  he  received 
at  Cairo  was  still  more  distressing.  He  was  thrown  into 
prison,  and  in  this  extremity  he  asked  counsel  of  God ; 
whereupon  it  was  miraculously  revealed  to  him,  that  thir¬ 
teen  denari,  such  as  he  had  presented  to  the  other  Mussul¬ 
man,  would  produce  here  an  equally  favourable  result. 
The  celestial  origin  of  this  advice  was  proved  by  its  com- 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


115 


plete  success.  The  pilgrim  was  not  only  liberated,  but 
obtained  letters  from  the  propitiated  ruler  which  saved  him 
from  all  farther  exaction. 

The  Crusades  threw  open  the  holy  places  to  the  eyes  of 
all  Europe  ;  and  accordingly,  so  long  as  a  Christian  king 
swayed  the  sceptre  in  the  capital  of  Judea,  the  merit  of 
individual  pilgrimage  was  greatly  diminished.  But  no 
sooner  had  the  warlike  Saracens  recovered  possession  of 
Jerusalem  than  the  wonted  difficulty  and  danger  returned  ; 
and,  as  might  be  expected,  the  interest  attached  to  the 
sacred  buildings,  which  the  “  infidel  dogs”  were  no  longer 
worthy  to  behold,  revived  in  greater  vigour  than  formerly. 
In  1331,  William  de  Bouldesell  adventured  on  an  expedi¬ 
tion  into  Arabia  and  Palestine,  of  which  some  account  has 
been  published.  .  In  the  monastery  of  St.  Catharine,  at  the 
base  of  Mount  Sinai,  he  was  hospitably  received  by  the 
monks,  who  showed  him  the  bones  of  their  patron  reposing 
in  a  tomb,  which,  however,  they  appear  not  to  have  treated 
with  much  respect.  By  means  of  hard  beating,  we  are 
told,  they  brought  out  from  these  remains  of  mortality  a 
small  portion  of  blood,  which  they  presented  to  the  pilgrim  as 
a  gift  of  singular  value.  A  circumstance  which  particularly 
astonished  him  would  probably  have  produced  no  surprise 
in  a  less  believing  mind  ;  the  blood,  it  seems,  “  had  not  the 
appearance  of  real  blood,  but  rather  of  some  thick  oily  sub¬ 
stance  nevertheless,  the  miracle  was  regarded  by  him  as 
one  of  the  greatest  that  had  ever  been  witnessed  in  this 
world. 

A  hundred  years  afterward  Bertrandon  de  la  Broquiere 
sailed  from  Venice  to  Jaffa,  where,  according  to  the  statis¬ 
tics  of  contrite  pilgrims,  the  “  pardons  of  the  Holy  Land 
begin.”  At  Jerusalem  he  found  the  Christians  reduced  to 
a  state  of  the  most  cruel  thraldom.  Such  of  them  as  en¬ 
gaged  in  trade  were  locked  up  in  their  shops  every  night 
by  the  Saracens,  who  opened  the  doors  in  the  morning  at 
such  an  hour  as  seemed  to  them  most  proper  or  convenient. 
At  Damascus  they  were  treated  with  equal  severity.  The 
first  two  persons  whom  he  met  in  this  city  knocked  him 
down, — an  injury  which  he  dared  not  resent  for  fear  of  im¬ 
mediately  losing  his  life.  About  thirty  years  before  the 
period  of  his  visit,  the  destroying  arms  of  Timur  had  laid 
a  large  portion  of  the  Syrian  capital  in  ruins,  though  the 


116 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


population  had  again  increased  to  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand.  During  his  stay  he  witnessed  the  arrival  of  a 
caravan  consisting  of  more  than  three  thousand  camels.  Its 
entry  employed  two  days  and  two  nights ;  the  Koran 
wrapped  in  silk  being  carried  in  front  on  the  back  of  a  camel 
richly  adorned  with  the  same  costly  material.  This  part 
of  the  procession  was  surrounded  by  a  number  of  persons 
brandishing  naked  swords,  and  playing  on  all  sorts  of  mu¬ 
sical  instruments.  The  governor,  with  all  the  inhabitants, 
went  out  to  meet  the  holy  cavalcade,  and  to  do  homage  to 
the  sacred  ensign,  which  at  once  proclaimed  their  faith,  and 
announced  the  object  of  the  pious  mission  thus  success¬ 
fully  concluded.  Broquiere  found  the  greatest  respect  paid 
to  every  one  who  had  performed  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca, 
and  was  gravely  assured  by  an  eminent  Moulah,  that  no 
such  person  could  ever  incur  the  hazard  of  everlasting 
damnation. 

We  merely  mention  the  names  of  Breidenbach  of  Mentz, 
and  of  Martin  Baumgarten,  who  in  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century  achieved  a  journey  into  the  Holy  Land. 
The  latter  of  these,  while  passing  through  Egypt,  was 
most  barbarously  treated  by  the  Saracen  boys,  who  pelted 
him  with  dirt,  brickbats,  stones,  and  rotten  fruit.  At  Heb¬ 
ron  he  was  shown  the  field  “  where  it  is  said,  or  at  least 
guessed,  that  Adam  was  made  but  the  reddish  earth  of 
which  it  is  composed  is  now  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
prayer-beads. 

The  work  of  Bartholemeo  Georgewitz,  who  travelled  in 
the  same  century,  gives  a  melancholy  account  of  the  mise¬ 
ries  endured  by  such  Christians  as  were  carried  into  slavery 
by  the  Turks  in  those  evil  days.  The  armies  of  that  nation 
were  followed  by  slave-dealers  supplied  with  chains,  by 
means  of  which  fifty  or  sixty  were  bound  in  a  row  together, 
leaving  only  two  feet  between  to  enable  them  to  walk. 
The  hands  were  manacled  during  the  day,  and  at  night  the 
feet  also.  The  sufferings  inflicted  upon  men  of  rank,  and 
those  belonging  to  the  learned  professions,  were  almost 
beyond  description  ;  extending  not  only  to  the  lowest  labours 
of  the  field,  but  even  to  the  work  of  oxen,  being  sometimes 
yoked  like  these  animals  in  the  plough.  Owing  to  the 
great  rivers  and  arms  of  the  sea,  it  was  extremely  difficult 
for  those  who  were  sent  into  Asia  to  effect  their  escape  ; 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


117 


■whence,  in  many  cases,  the  horrors  of  captivity  had  no  other 
limits  than  those  of  the  natural  life.  No  wonder  that  Bar- 
tholemeo  recommends  to  every  one  visiting  those  parts  to 
make  his  will,  “  like  one  going  not  to  the  earthly,  but  to 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem.” 

Laurence  Aldersey,  who  set  out  from  London  in  1581,  was 
the  first  Protestant  who  encountered  the  perils  of  a  voyage 
to  Syria.  In  the  Levant  a  Turkish  galley  hove  in  sight, 
and  caused  great  alarm.  The  master,  “  being  a  wise 
fellow,  began  to  devise  how  to  escape  the  danger  ;  but, 
while  both  he  and  all  of  us  were  in  our  dumps,  God  sent 
us  a  merrie  gale  of  wind.”  As  they  approached  Candia  a 
violent  storm  came  on,  and  the  mariners  began  to  reproach 
the  Englishman  as  the  cause,  “  and  saide  I  was  no  good 
Christian,  and  wished  I  were  in  the  middest  of  the  sea,  say- 
i fig  that  they  and  the  shippe  were  the  worse  for  me.”  He 
replied,  “  I  thinke  myself  the  worst  creature  in  the  worlde, 
and  do  you  consider  yourselves  also.”  These  remonstrances 
were  followed  by  a  long  sermon,  the  tenor  of  which  was, 
“  that  they  were  not  all  good  Christians,  else  it  were  not 
possible  for  them  to  have  such  weather.”  A  gentleman  on 
board  informed  Aldersey,  that  the  suspicions  respecting  him 
originated  in  his  refusal  to  join  in  the  prayers  to  the  Virgin 
Mary, — a  charge  which  he  parried  by  remarking  that  “  they 
who  praied  to  so  many  goe  a  wrong  way  to  worke.”  The 
friars,  resolving  to  bring  the  matter  to  an  issue,  sent  round 
the  image  of  Our  Lady  to  kiss.  On  its  approach  the  good 
Protestant  endeavoured  to  avoid  it  by  going  another  way  ; 
but  the  bearer  “  fetched  his  course  about,”  and  presented  it. 
The  proffered  salutation  being  then  positively  rejected,  the 
affair  might  have  become  serious,  had  not  two  of  the  more 
respectable  monks  interceded  in  his  behalf,  and  enforced  a 
more  charitable  procedure. 

Of  the  people  of  Cyprus  he  remarks,  that  they  “  be  very 
rude,  and  like  beasts,  and  no  better  :  they  eat  their  meat 
sitting  upon  the  ground,  with  their  legs  acrosse  like  tailors.” 
On  the  8th  of  August  they  arrived  at  Joppa,  but  did  not  till 
the  next  day  receive  permission  to  land  from  the  great 
pasha,  “  who  sate  upon  a  hill  to  see  us  sent  away.”  Al¬ 
dersey  had  mounted  before  the  rest,  which  greatly  displeased 
his  highness,  who  sent  a  servant  to  pull  him  from  the  saddle 
and  beat  him ;  “  whereupon  I  made  a  long  legge,  saving, 

L  2 


118 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


Grand  mercye,  seignor.”  This  timely  submission  seems 
to  have  secured  forgiveness ;  and  accordingly,  “  being 
horsed  upon  little  asses,”  they  commenced  their  journey 
towards  Jerusalem.  Rama  he  describes  as  so  “  ruinated, 
that  he  took  it  to  be  rather  a  heape  of  stones  than  a  towne 
finding  no  house  to  receive  them  but  such  a  one  as  they 
were  compelled  to  enter  by  creeping  on  their  knees.  The 
party  were  exposed  to  the  usual  violence  and  extortion  of 
the  Arabs  ;  “  they  that  should  have  rescued  us  stood  still, 
and  dm*st  doe  nothing,  which  was  to  our  cost.”  On  reach¬ 
ing  the  holy  city  they  knelt  down  and  gave  thanks  ;  after 
which  they  were  obliged  to  enter  the  gate  on  foot,  no  Chris¬ 
tian  at  that  period  being  allowed  to  appear  within  the  walls 
mounted.  The  superior  of  the  convent  received  the  pilgrims 
courteously  into  his  humble  establishment,  where  Aldersey 
tells  us,  “  they  were  dieted  of  free  cost,  and  fared  reasonable 
well.”* 

The  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  witnessed  a 
higher  order  of  travellers,  who,  from  such  a  mixture  of  mo¬ 
tives  as  might  actuate  either  a  pilgrim  or  an  antiquary, 
undertook  the  perilous  tour  of  the  Holy  Land.  Among 
these,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  was  George  Sandys, 
who  commenced  his  peregrinations  in  the  year  1610.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Doubdan,  Cheron,  Thevenot,  Gonzales, 
Morison,  Maundrell,  and  Pococke,  all  of  whom  have  con¬ 
tributed  many  valuable  materials  towards  a  complete  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  localities,  government,  and  actual  condition  of 
modern  Palestine.  In  our  own  days  the  number  of  works 
on  these  important  subjects  has  increased  greatly,  present¬ 
ing  to  the  historian  of  the  Turkish  provinces  in  Asia  a 
nearer  and  more  minute  view  of  society  than  could  be  ob¬ 
tained  by  the  earlier  travellers,  who,  instead  of  yielding  to 
the  characteristic  bigotry  of  Moslem,  usually  opposed  to  it 
a  prejudice  not  less  determined  and  uncharitable.  We 
must  not  hazard  a  catalogue  of  the  enterprising  authors  to 
wrhom  the  European  public  are  indebted  for  the  information 
now  enjoyed  by  every  class  of  readers,  in  regard  to  the  most 
interesting  of  all  ancient  kingdoms, — the  country  inhabited 
by  Israel  and  Judah.  In  the  description  which  we  are 

*  Murray’s  Historical  Account  of  Discoveries  and  Travels  in  Asia,  vol. 
iil.  p.  13a 


DESCRIPTION  OP  JERUSALEM. 


119 


about  to  give  of  the  principal  towns,  the  buildings,  the  an¬ 
tiquities,  the  manners,  the  opinions,  and  the  religious  forms 
which  meet  the  observation  of  the  intelligent  tourist  in  the 
Land  of  Canaan,  we  shall  select  the  most  striking  facts 
from  writers  of  all  nations  and  sects,  making  no  distinction 
but  such  as  shall  be  dictated  by  a  respect  for  the  learning, 
the  candour,  and  the  opportunities  which  are  recorded  in 
their  several  volumes. 

Palestine  is  usually  approached,  either  from  the  sea  at 
the  port  of  JafTa  (the  ancient  Joppa),  or  from  Egypt,  by  way 
of  the  intervening  desert.  In  both  cases,  the  principal 
otfject  is  to  obtain  a  safe  and  easy  route  to  the  capital, 
which,  even  at  the  present  hour,  cannot  be  reached  without 
much  danger,  unless  under  the  special  protection  of  the  na¬ 
tive  authorities.  The  power  of  Mohammed  Ali,  it  is  true, 
extends  almost  to  the  very  walls  of  Gaza  ;  and  wherever  his 
government  is  acknowledged  no  violence  can  be  committed 
with  impunity  on  European  travellers.  But  the  Syrian 
pashas,  equally  deficient  in  inclination  and  vigour,  still  per¬ 
mit  the  grossest  extortion,  and  sometimes  connive  at  the 
most  savage  atrocities.  Besides,  there  is  a  class  of  lawless 
Arabs  who  scour  the  borders  of  the  wilderness,  holding  at 
defiance  all  the  restrictions  which  a  civilized  people  impose 
or  respect.  Sir  Frederick  Henniker,  who  followed  the  un¬ 
wonted  track  which  leads  from  Mount  Sinai  to  the  southern 
shore  of  the  Bead  Sea,  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life,  after 
having  been  severely  wounded  and  repeatedly  robbed  by  one 
of  the  most  savage  hordes  of  Bedouins. 

The  history  of  the  crusades  will  draw  our  attention  to 
Jaffa  more  minutely  than  would  be  suitable  at  the  present 
stage  of  our  narrative  ;  we  shall  therefore  proceed  on  the 
usual  route  to  Jerusalem,  collecting  as  we  go  along  such 
notices  as  may  prove  interesting  to  the  reader.  At  a  short 
distance  from  this  celebrated  port  the  pilgrim  enters  the 
plain  of  Sharon,  celebrated  in  Scripture  for  its  beautiful 
roses.  The  monk  Neret  informs  us,  that  in  his  time  it  was 
covered  with  tulips,  the  variety  of  whose  colours  formed  a 
lovely  parterre.  At  present,  the  eye  of  the  traveller  is  de¬ 
lighted  with  a  profusion  of  roses  white  and  red,  the  nar¬ 
cissus,  the  white  and  orange  lily,  the  carnation,  and  a 
highly-fragrant  species  of  everlasting-flower.  This  plain 
stretches  along  the  coast  from  Gaza  in  the  south  to  Mount 


120 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


Carmel  on  the  north,  being  bounded  towards  the  east  by 
the  hills  of  Judea  and  Samaria.  The  whole  of  it  is  not 
upon  the  same  level ;  it  consists  of  four  platforms  separated 
from  each  other  by  a  wall  of  naked  stones.  The  soil  is 
composed  of  a  very  fine  sand,  which,  though  mixed  with 
gravel,  appears  extremely  fertile  ;  but  owing  to  the  desolat¬ 
ing  spirit  of  Mohammedan  despotism,  nothing  is  seen  in 
some  of  the  richest  fields  except  thistles  and  withered  grass. 
Here  and  there,  indeed,  are  scanty  plantations  of  cotton, 
with  a  few  patches  of  doura,  barley,  and  wheat.  The  vil¬ 
lages,  which  are  commonly  surrounded  with  olive-trees  and 
sycamores,  are  for  the  most  part  in  ruins ;  exhibiting  a  melan¬ 
choly  proof  that  under  a  bad  government  even  the  bounty 
of  Heaven  ceases  to  be  a  blessing. 

The  path  by  which  the  hilly  barrier  is  penetrated  is  diffi¬ 
cult,  and  in  some  places  dangerous.  But  before  you  reach 
it,  turning  towards  the  east,  you  perceive  Rama,  or  Ramla, 
the  ancient  Arimathea,  distinguished  by  its  charming  situa¬ 
tion,  and  well  known  as  the  residence  of  a  Christian  com¬ 
munity.  The  convent,  it  is  true,  had  been  plundered  five 
years  before  it  was  visited  by  Chateaubriand ;  and  it  was 
not  without  the  most  urgent  solicitation  that  the  friars  were 
permitted  to  repair  their  building,  as  if  it  were  a  maxim  I 
among  the  Turks,  who  by  their  domination  continue  to 
afflict  and  disgrace  the  finest  parts  of  Palestine,  that  the 
progress  of  ruin  and  decay  should  never  be  arrested.  Yolney 
tells  us,  that  when  he  was  at  Ramla  a  commander  resided 
there  in  a  serai,  the  walls  and  floors  of  which  were  on  the 
point  of  tumbling  down.  He  asked  one  of  the  inferior  offi¬ 
cers  why  his  master  did  not  at  least  pay  some  attention  to 
his  own  apartment.  The  reply  was,  “  If  another  shall  ob¬ 
tain  his  place  next  year,  who  will  repay  the  expense  ?” 

In  those  days  the  aga  maintained  about  one  hundred 
horsemen  and  as  many  African  soldiers,  who  were  lodged  in 
an  old  Christian  church,  the  nave  of  which  was  converted 
into  a  stable,  as  also  in  an  ancient  khan,  which  was  dis¬ 
puted  with  them  by  the  scorpions.  The  adjacent  country 
is  planted  with  lofty  olives,  the  greatest  part  of  w  hich  are 
as  large  as  the  walnut-trees  of  France,  though  they  are  daily 
perishing  through  age  and  the  ravages  of  contending  fac¬ 
tions.  When  a  peasant  is  disposed  to  take  revenge  on  his 
enemy,  he  goes  by  night  and  cuts  his  trees  close  to  the 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


121 


ground,  when  the  wound,  which  he  carefully  covers  from  the 
sight,  drains  off  the  sap  like  an  issue.  Amid  these  planta¬ 
tions  are  seen  at  every  step  dry  wells,  cisterns  fallen  in,  and 
immense  vaulted  reservoirs,  which  prove  that  in  ancient 
times  this  town  must  have  been  upwards  of  four  miles  in 
circumference.  At  present  it  does  not  contain  more  than  a 
hundred  miserable  families.  The  houses  are  only  so  many 
huts,  sometimes  detached,  and  sometimes  ranged  in  the  form 
of  cells  round  a  court,  enclosed  by  a  mud  wall.  In  winter, 
the  inhabitants  and  their  cattle  may  be  said  to  live  together ; 
the  part  of  the  building  allotted  to  themselves  being  raised 
only  two  feet  above  that  in  which  they  lodge  their  beasts. 
The  peasants  are  by  this  means  kept  warm  without  burning 
wood, — a  species  of  economy  indispensable  in  a  country 
absolutely  destitute  of  fuel.  As  to  the  fire  necessary  for 
culinary  purposes,  they  make  it,  as  was  the  practice  in  the 
days  of  Ezekiel  the  prophet,  of  dung  kneaded  into  cakes, 
which  they  dry  in  the  sun,  exposing  them  to  its  rays  on  the 
walls  of  their  huts.  In  summer,  their  lodging  is  more  airy ; 
but  all  their  furniture  consists  of  a  single  mat  and  a  pitcher 
for  carrying  water.  The  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the 
village  is  sown  at  the  proper  season  with  grain  and  water¬ 
melons  ;  all  the  rest  is  a  desert,  and  abandoned  to  the 
Bedouin  Arabs,  who  feed  their  flocks  on  it.  There  are  fre¬ 
quent  remains  of  towers,  dungeons,  and  even  of  castles  with 
ramparts  and  ditches,  in  some  of  which  are  a  few  Barbary 
soldiers  with  nothing  but  a  shirt  and  a  musket.  These 
ruins,  however,  are  more  commonly  inhabited  by  owls, 
jackals,  and  scorpions.* 

The  only  remarkable  antiquity  at  Ramla  is  the  minaret 
of  a  decayed  mosque,  which,  by  an  Arabic  inscription, 
appears  to  have  been  built  by  the  Sultan  of  Egypt.  From 
the  summit,  which  is  very  lofty,  the  eye  follows  the  whole 
chain  of  mountains,  beginning  at  Nablous,  and  skirting 
the  extremity  of  the  plain  till  it  loses  itself  in  the  south. 

A  ride  of  two  hours  brings  the  traveller  to  the  verge  of 
the  mountains,  where  the  road  opens  through  a  rugged 
ravine,  and  is  formed  in  the  dry  channel  of  a  torrent.  A 
scene  of  marked  solitude  and  desolation  surrounds  his  steps 

*  Chateaubriand,  Itineraire,  tom.  i.  p.  380.  Volney’s  Travels,  vol.  ii. 
p.  335. 


L 


122 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


g,s  he  pursues  his  journey  in  what  is  so  simply  described  in 
the  gospel  as  the  “hill  country  of  Judea.”  He  finds  him¬ 
self  amid  a  labyrinth  of  mountains,  of  a  conical  figure,  all 
nearly  alike,  and  connected  with  each  other  at  their  base. 
A  naked  rock  presents  strata  or  beds  resembling  the  seats 
of  a  Roman  amphitheatre,  or  the  walls  which  support  the 
vineyards  in  the  valleys  of  Savoy.  Every  recess  is  filled 
with  dwarf  oaks,  box,  and  rose-laurels.  From  the  bottom 
of  the  ravines  olive-trees  rear  their  heads,  sometimes  form¬ 
ing  continuous  woods  on  the  sides  of  the  hills.  On  reach¬ 
ing  the  most  elevated  summit  of  this  chain,  he  looks  down 
towards  the  south-west  on  the  beautiful  Valley  of  Sharon, 
bounded  by  the  Great  Sea;  before  him  opens  the  Vale  of 
St.  Jeremiah;  and  in  the  same  direction,  on  the  top  of  a 
rock,  appears  in  the  distance  an  ancient  fortress  called  the 
Castle  of  the  Maccabees.  It  is  conjectured  that  the  author 
of  the  Lamentations  came  into  the  world  in  the  village 
which  has  retained  his  name  amid  these  mountains  ;  so 
much  is  certain,  at  least,  that  the  melancholy  of  this  deso¬ 
late  scene  appears  to  pervade  the  compositions  of  the  pro¬ 
phet  of  sorrows. 

The  unvarying  manners  of  the  East  exhibit  to  the  view 
of  the  stranger,  at  the  present  day,  the  same  picture  of 
rural  innocence  and  simplicity  which  might  have  met  the 
eye  of  the  mother  of  the  Redeemer  when  she  came  into 
this  pastoral  country  to  salute  her  cousin  Elizabeth.  Herds 
of  goats  with  pendant  ears,  sheep  with  large  tails,  and  asses 
which  remind  you,  by  their  beauty,  of  the  onagra  of  Scrip¬ 
ture,  issue  from  the  villages  at  the  dawn  of  day.  Arab 
women  are  seen  bringing  grapes  to  dry  in  the  vineyards ; 
others  with  their  faces  veiled,  carrying  pitchers  of  water 
on  their  heads,  like  the  daughters  of  Midian. 

From  the  Valley  of  Jeremiah  the  traveller  towards  Zion 
descends  into  that  which  bears  the  name  of  Turpentine, 
and  is  deeper  and  narrower  than  the  other.  Here  are  ob¬ 
served  some  vineyards,  and  a  few  patches  of  doura.  He 
next  arrives  at  the  brook  where  the  youthful  David  picked 
up  the  five  smooth  stones,  with  one  of  which  he  slew  the 
gigantic  Goliath.  Having  crossed  the  stream,  he  perceives 
the  village  of  Heriet-Lefta  on  the  bank  of  another  dry 
channel,  which  resembles  a  dusty  road.  El  Bird  appears 
in  the  distance  on  the  summit  of  a  lofty  hill  on  the  way  to 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


123 


Nablous,  the  Shechem  of  the  Israelites  and  the  Neapolis 
of  the  Herods.  He  now  pursues  his  course  through  a 
desert,  where  wild  fig-trees  thinly  scattered  wave  their  em¬ 
browned  leaves  in  the  southern  breeze.  The  ground,  which 
had  hitherto  exhibited  some  verdure,  becomes  altogether 
bare  ;  the  sides  of  the  mountains,  expanding  themselves, 
assume  at  once  an  appearance  of  greater  grandeur  and 
sterility.  Presently  all  vegetation  ceases ;  even  the  very 
mosses  disappear.  The  confused  amphitheatre  of  the 
mountains  is  tinged  with  a  red  and  vivid  colour.  In  this 
dreary  region  he  keeps  ascending  a  whole  hour  to  gain  an 
elevated  hill  which  he  sees  before  him  ;  after  which  he  pro¬ 
ceeds  during  an  equal  space  across  a  naked  plain  strewed 
with  loose  stones.  All  at  once,  at  the  extremity  of  this 
plain,  he  perceives  a  line  of  Gothic  walls  flanked  with 
square  towers,  and  the  tops  of  a  few  buildings  peeping 
above  them ; — he  beholds  Jerusalem,  once  the  joy  of  the 
whole  earth  ! 

“  I  can  now  account,”  says  M.  Chateaubriand,  “  for  the 
surprise  expressed  by  the  crusaders  and  pilgrims  at  the 
first  sight  of  Jerusalem,  according  to  the  reports  of  histo¬ 
rians  and  travellers.  I  can  affirm  that  whoever  has,  like 
me,  had  the  patience  to  read  nearly  two  hundred  modern 
accounts  of  the  Holy  Land,  the  Rabbinical  compilations, 
and  the  passages  in  the  ancient  writers  respecting  Judea, 
still  knows  nothing  at  all  about  it.  I  paused  with  my  eyes 
fixed  on  Jerusalem,  measuring  the  height  of  its  walls,  re¬ 
viewing  at  once  all  the  recollections  of  history  from  the 
patriarch  Abraham  to  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  reflecting  on 
the  total  change  accomplished  in  the  world  by  the  mission 
of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  in  vain  seeking  that  Temple,  not 
one  stone  of  which  is  left  upon  another.  Were  I  to  live  a 
thousand  years,  never  should  I  forget  that  desert,  which  yet 
seems  to  be  pervaded  by  the  greatness  of  Jehovah  and  the 
terrors  of  death.”* 

On  this  occasion  a  camp  of  Turkish  horse,  with  all  the 
accompaniments  of  oriental  pomp,  was  pitched  under  the 
walls.  The  tents  in  general  were  covered  with  black  lamb¬ 
skins,  while  those  belonging  to  persons  of  distinction  were 
formed  of  striped  cloth.  The  horses,  saddled  and  bridled, 


*  Itin^raire,  tom.  ii.  p.  385. 


124 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


were  fastened  to  stakes.  There  were  four  pieces  of  horse- 
artillery,  well  mounted  on  carriages,  which  appeared  to  be 
of  English  manufacture.  These  fierce  soldiers  are  stationed 
near  the  capital,  as  well  for  the  purpose  of  checking  the 
savage  Bedouins,  who  acknowledge  no  master,  as  for  en¬ 
forcing  the  tribute  demanded  from  all  strangers  who  enter 
the  holy  city.  The  recollections  of  the  Mussulman,  no  less 
than  those  of  the  Christian,  inspire  a  reverential  feeling 
for  the  town  in  which  David  dwelt  ;  and  hence,  although 
the  European  pilgrim  be  oppressed  by  the  present  laws  of 
Palestine,  his  motives  are  usually  respected,  and  even 
praised. 

The  reader  who  has  perused  with  attention  some  of  the 
more  recent  works  on  Palestine  must  have  been  struck 
with  the  diversity,  and  even  the  apparent  contradiction, 
which  prevail  in  their  descriptions  of  Jerusalem.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  one,  the  magnificence  of  its  buildings  rivals  the 
most  splendid  edifices  of  modern  times,  w  hile  another  could 
perceive  nothing  but  filth  and  ruins,  surmounted  by  a  gaudy 
mosque  and  a  few  glittering  minarets.  The  greater  num¬ 
ber,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  have  drawn  from  their  own 
imagination  the  tints  in  which  they  have  been  pleased  to 
exhibit  the  metropolis  of  Judea ;  trusting  more  to  the  im¬ 
pressions  conveyed  by  the  brilliant  delineations  of  poetry, 
than  to  a  minute  inspection  of  wrhat  they  might  have  seen 
with  their  own  eyes. 

Dr.  Clarke,  for  example,  has  allowed  his  pen  to  be  guided 
by  the  ardent  muse  of  Tasso,  rather  than  by  the  cool  obser¬ 
vation  of  an  unbiassed  traveller.  “  No  sensation  of  fatigue 
or  heat,”  says  he,  “could  counterbalance  the  eagerness  and 
zeal  which  animated  all  our  party  in  the  approach  to  Jeru¬ 
salem  ;  every  individual  pressed  forward,  hoping  first  to 
announce  the  joyful  intelligence  of  its  appearance.  We 
passed  some  insignificant  ruins,  either  of  ancient  buildings 
or  of  modern  villages  ;  but  had  they  been  of  more  import¬ 
ance  they  wrould  have  excited  little  notice  at  the  time,  so 
earnestly  bent  was  every  mind  towards  the  main  object  of 
interest  and  curiosity.  At  length,  after  about  two  hours 
had  been  passed  in  this  state  of  anxiety  and  suspense, 
ascending  a  hill  towards  the  south — Hagiopolis !  exclaimed 
a  Greek  in  the  van  of  our  cavalcade ;  and,  instantly  throw¬ 
ing  himself  from  his  horse,  was  seen  upon  his  knees,  bare* 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


127 


headed,  facing  the  prospect  he  surveyed.  Suddenly  the 
sight  burst  upon  us  all.  The  effect  produced  was  that  of 
total  silence  throughout  the  whole  company.  Many  of  our 
party,  by  an  immediate  impulse,  took  off  their  hats  as  if 
entering  a  church,  without  being  sensible  of  so  doing.  The 
Greeks  and  Catholics  shed  torrents  of  tears  ;  and,  presently 
beginning  to  cross  themselves  with  unfeigned  devotion,, 
asked  if  they  might  be  permitted  to  take  off  the  covering 
from  their  feet,  and  proceed  barefooted  to  the  Holy  Sepul¬ 
chre.  We  had  not  been  prepared  for  the  grandeur  of  the 
spectacle  which  the  city  alone  exhibited.  Instead  of  a 
wretched  and  ruined  towni  by  some  described  as  the  deso¬ 
lated  remnant  of  Jerusalem,  we  beheld,  as  it  were,  a  flourish¬ 
ing  and  stately  metropolis,  presenting  a  magnificent  assem¬ 
blage  of  domes,  towers,  palaces,  churches,  and  monasteries ; 
all  of  which,  glittering  in  the  sun’s  rays,  shone  with  incon¬ 
ceivable  splendour.  As  we  drew  nearer,  our  whole  atten¬ 
tion  was  engrossed  by  its  noble  and  interesting  appear¬ 
ance.”* 

The  effect  produced  upon  the  Christian  army  when  they 
obtained  the  first  view  of  the  holy  city  is  beautifully  de¬ 
scribed  by  the  Italian  poet,  thereby  supplying,  it  may  be 
suspected,  the  model  which  has  been  so  faithfully  copied 
by  the  English  tourist.  We  avail  ourselves  of  the  transla¬ 
tion  of  Hoole. 

*- 

“Now  from  the  golden  East  the  zephyrs  borne, 

Proclaimed  with  balmy  gales  the  approach  of  morn ; 

And  fair  Aurora  decked  her  radiant  head 
With  roses  cropp’d  from  Eden’s  flowery  bed ; 

When  from  the  sounding  camp  was  heard  afar 
The  noise  of  troops  preparing  for  the  war: 

To  this  succeed  the  trumpet’s  loud  alarms, 

And  rouse,  with  shriller  notes,  the  host  to  arms. 

“  With  holy  zeal  their  swelling  hearts  abound, 

And  their  wing’d  footsteps  scarcely  print  the  ground. 

When  now  the  sun  ascends  the  ethereal  way, 

And  strikes  the  dusty  field  with  warmer  ray ; 

Behold,  Jerusalem  in  prospect  lies ! 

Behold,  Jerusalem  salutes  their  eyes  ! 

At  once  a  thousand  tongues  repeat  the  name, 

And  hail  Jerusalem  with  loud  acclaim ! 


*  Travels,  vol.  iv.  p.  289. 


128 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


“At  first,  transported  with  the  pleasing  sight, 

Each  Christian  bosom  glowed  with  full  delight ; 

But  deep  contrition  soon  their  joy  suppressed, 

And  holy  sorrow  saddened  every  breast ; 

Scarce  dare  their  eyes  the  city  walls  survey, 

Where  clothed  in  flesh  their  dear  Redeemer  lay, 

Whose  sacred  earth  did  once  their  Lord  enclose, 

And  when  triumphant  from  the  grave  he  rose  ! 

“ Each  faltering  tongue  imperfect  speech  supplies; 

Each  labouring  bosom  heaves  with  frequent  sighs. 

Each  took  the  example  as  their  chieftains  led. 

With  naked  feet  the  hallowed  soil  they  tread  : 

Each  throws  his  martial  ornaments  aside, 

The  crested  helmets  with  their  plumy  pride: 

To  humble  thoughts  their  lofty  hearts  they  bend, 

And  down  their  cheeks  the  pious  tears  descend.”* 

No  city  assuredly  presents  a  more  striking  example  of  the 
vicissitude  of  human  affairs  than  the  capital  of  the  Jews. 
When  we  behold  its  walls  levelled,  its  ditches  filled  up,  and 
all  its  buildings  embarrassed  with  ruins,  we  scarcely  can  be¬ 
lieve  we  view  that  celebrated  metropolis  which  formerly 
withstood  the  efforts  of  the  most  powerful  empires,  and  for  a 
time  resisted  the  arms  of  Rome  itself ;  though,  by  a  whim¬ 
sical  change  of  fortune,  its  mouldering  edifices  now  receive 
her  homage  and  reverence.  “In  a  word,”  says  Yolney, 
“we  with  difficulty  recognise  Jerusalem.”  Still  more  are 
we  astonished  at  its  ancient  greatness,  when  we  consider 
its  situation,  amid  a  rugged  soil,  destitute  of  water,  and 
surrounded  by  the  dry  channels  of  torrents  and  steep  hills. 
Remote  from  every  great  road,  it  seems  not  to  have  been 
calculated  either  for  a  considerable  mart  of  commerce,  or 
for  the  centre  of  a  great  consumption.  It  overcame,  how¬ 
ever,  every  obstacle,  and  may  be  adduced  as  a  proof  of  what 
patriotism  and  religion  may  effect  in  the  hands  of  a  good 
government,  or  when  favoured  by  happy  circumstances 
from  without.  The  same  principles,  in  some  degree  modi¬ 
fied,  still  preserve  to  this  city  its  feeble  existence.  The 

*  The  original  presents  one  of  the  most  animated  and  musical  pas 
sages  in  the  Gerusalemme  Liberata: — 

“  Ma  quando  il  sol  gli  aridi  campi  fiede 
Con  raggi  assai  fervente,  a  in  alto  sorge, 

Ecco  apparir  Gerusalem  si  vede  ! 

Ecco  additar  Gerusalem  si  scorge ! 

Ecco  da  mille  voci  unitamente, 

Gerusalemme  salutar  si  sente  '."—Canto  ill.  stan.  v.  2. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


129 


renown  of  its  miracles,  perpetuated  in  the  East,  invites 
and  retains  a  considerable  number  of  inhabitants  within  its 
walls.* 

As  a  contrast  to  the  description  of  Dr.  Clarke,  the  reader 
may  not  be  displeased  to  peruse  the  notes  of  Sir  Frederick 
Henniker  on  the  same  subject : — “Jerusalem  is  called,  even 
by  the  Mohammedans,  the  Blessed  City, — the  streets  of  it 
are  narrow  and  deserted, — the  houses  dirty  and  ragged, — 
the  shops  few  and  forsaken, — and  throughout  the  whole 
there  is  not  one  symptom  of  either  commerce,  comfort,  or 
happiness.  Is  this  the  city  that  men  call  the  Perfection  of 
Beauty,  the  Joy  of  the  whole  Earth  1 — The  town,  which 
appears  to  me  not  worth  possession,  even  without  the 
trouble  of  conquest,  is  walled  entirely  round,  is  about  a 
mile  in  length  and  half  a  mile  in  width,  so  that  its  circum¬ 
ference  may  be  estimated  at  three  miles.  In  three  quarters 
of  an  hour  I  performed  the  circuit.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
conceive  how  it  could  ever  have  been  larger  than  it  now  is  ; 
for,  independent  of  the  ravines,  the  four  outsides  of  the 
city  are  marked  by  the  brook  of  Siloam,  by  a  burial-place 
at  either  end,  and  by  the  Hill  of  Calvary ;  and  the  Hill  of 
Calvary  is  now  within  the  town,  so  that  it  was  formerly 
smaller  than  it  is  at  present.  The  best  view  of  it  is  from 
the  Mount  of  Olives ;  it  commands  the  exact  shape,  and 
nearly  every  particular,  namely,  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  the  Armenian  Convent,  the  Mosque  of  Omar, 
St.  Stephen’s  Gate,  the  round-topped  houses,  and  the  barren 
vacancies  of  the  city.  The  Mosque  of  Omar  is  the  St. 
Peter’s  of  Turkey.  The  building  itself  has  a  light,  pagoda 
appearance  ;  the  garden  in  which  it  stands  occupies  a  con¬ 
siderable  part  of  the  city,  and  contrasted  with  the  surround¬ 
ing  desert  is  beautiful ;  but  it  is  forbidden  ground,  and  Jew 
or  Christian  entering  within  its  precincts  must,  if  discovered, 
forfeit  either  his  religion  or  his  life.” J- 

The  observation  made  by  Sir  Frederick,  in  regard  to  the 
difficulty  and  danger  of  entering  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  has 
been  verified  on  more  than  one  occasion.  But  the  obstacles, 
apparently  insurmountable,  were  overcome  by  Dr.  Richard¬ 
son,  who,  in  return  for  the  successful  exercise  of  his  pro- 

*  Travels  in  Egypt  and  Syria,  vol.  ii.  p.  303. 

f  Notes  on  Egypt,  &c.  p.  274. 


130 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


fessional  skill,  was  rewarded  by  a  clandestine  visit  to  the 
shrine  of  the  Mussulman  saint.  It  will  appear,  from  the 
few  details  which  we  are  about  to  select  from  his  volume,  that 
the  veil  of  mystery  does  not  conceal  anything  really  worth 
seeing.  Like  Pompey  in  the  Temple,  the  Christian  visiter, 
whose  presence,  in  like  manner,  profanes  the  holy  place, 
feels  no  other  surprise  than  is  occasioned  by  the  fact,  that 
men  have  agreed  to  excite  curiosity  by  prohibiting  an 
imaginary  gratification. 

“  On  our  arrival  at  the  door,  a  gentle  knock  brought  up 
the  sacristan,  who,  apprized  of  our  intention,  was  within 
waiting  to  receive  us.  He  demanded,  rather  sternly,  who 
we  were,  and  was  answered  by  my  black  conductor  in  tones 
no  less  consequential  than  his  own.  The  door  immediately 
edged  up,  to  prevent  as  much  as  possible  the  light  from 
shining  out,  and  we  squeezed  ourselves  in  with  a  gentle 
and  noiseless  step,  although  there  was  no  person  near  who 
could  be  alarmed  by  the  loudest  sound  of  our  bare  feet 
upon  the  marble  floor.  The  door  was  no  sooner  shut  than 
the  sacristan,  taking  a  couple  of  candles  in  his  hand,  showed 
us  all  over  the  interior  of  the  building,  pointing,  in  the 
pride  of  his  heart,  to  the  elegant  marble  walls,  the  beauti¬ 
fully-gilded  ceiling,  the  well  where  the  true  worshippers 
drink  and  wash, — with  which  we  also  blessed  our  palates 
and  moistened  our  beards, — the  paltry  reading-desk  with 
the  ancient  Koran,  the  handsome  columns,  and  the  green 
stone  with  the  wonderful  nails.  As  soon  as  we  had  com¬ 
pleted  this  circuit,  pulling  a  key  from  his  girdle,  he  unlocked 
the  door  of  the  railing  that  separates  the  outer  from  the 
inner  part  of  the  mosque,  which,  with  an  elevation  of  two 
or  three  steps,  led  us  into  the  sacred  recess.  Here  he 
pointed  out  the  patches  of  mosaic  in  the  floor,  the  round 
flat  stone  which  the  Prophet  carried  on  his  arm  in  battle, 
directed  us  to  introduce  our  hand  through  the  hole  in  the 
wooden  box,  to  feel  the  print  of  the  Prophet’s  foot,  and, 
through  the  posts  of  the  wooden  rail,  to  feel  as  well  as  to 
see  the  marks  of  the  angel  Gabriel’s  fingers  (into  which  T 
carefully  put  my  own)  in  the  sacred  stone  that  occupies 
the  centre  of  the  mosque,  and  from  which  it  derives  the 
name  of  Sakhara  or  Locked-up,  and  over  which  is  sus¬ 
pended  a  fine  cloth  of  green  and  red  satin.  It  was  so 
covered  with  dust  that,  but  for  the  information  of  my  guide, 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


131 


I  should  not  have  been  able  to  tell  the  composing  colours. 
Finally,  he  pointed  to  the  door  that  leads  into  the  small 
cavern  below,  of  which  he  had  not  the  key. 

“  I  looked  up  to  the  interior  of  the  dome  ;  but,  there  being 
few  lamps  burning,  the  light  was  not  sufficient  to  show  me 
any  of  its  beauty  farther  than  a  general  glance.  The  col¬ 
umns  and  curiosities  were  counted  over  again  and  again, 
the  arches  were  specially  examined  and  enumerated,  to  be 
sure  that  I  had  not  missed  nor  forgotten  any  of  them. 
Writing  would  have  been  an  ungracious  behaviour,  calcu¬ 
lated  to  excite  a  thousand  suspicions,  that  next  day  would 
have  gone  to  swell  the  current  of  the  city  gossip,  to  the 
prejudice  both  of  myself  and  of  my  friend.  Having  ex¬ 
amined  the  adytum,  we  once  more  touched  the  footstep  of 
the  Prophet  and  the  finger-prints  of  the  angel  Gabriel,  and 
descended  the  steps,  over  which  the  door  was  immediately 
secured.”* 

Dr.  Richardson  was  afterward  permitted  to  visit  this 
splendid  mosque  during  the  day,  when  he  found  that  the 
dimensions  of  the  enclosure  in  which  it  stands  is  about  fif¬ 
teen  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  a  thousand  in  breadth.  In 
the  sacred  retirement  of  this  charming  spot,  the  followers 
of  the  Prophet  delight  to  saunter,  or  repose,  as  in  the  ely- 
sium  of  their  devotions  ;  and,  arrayed  in  the  gorgeous  cos¬ 
tume  of  the  East,  add  much  to  the  interest,  the  beauty,  and 
solemn  stillness  of  the  scene,  from  which  they  seem  loath 
to  retire.  The  Sakhara  itself  is  a  regular  octagon  of  about 
sixty  feet  a  side,  and  is  entered  by  four  spacious  doors,  each 
of  which  is  adorned  with  a  porch  projecting  from  the  line 
of  the  building  and  rising  considerably  on  the  wall.  All 
the  sides  of  it  are  paneled.  The  centre-stone  of  one  panel 
is  square,  of  another  it  is  octagonal,  and  thus  they  alternate 
all  round ;  the  sides  of  each  running  down  the  angles  like 
a  plain  pilaster,  and  giving  an  appearance  as  if  the  whole 
were  set  in  a  frame.  The  marble  is  white,  with  a  con¬ 
siderable  tinge  of  blue  ;  square  pieces  of  the  latter  colour 
being  introduced  in  different  places,  so  as  to  confer  upon 
the  exterior  a  very  pleasing  effect.  The  upper  story  is 
faced  with  small  tiles  painted  of  different  colours,  white, 
yellow,  green,  and  blue  ;  some  of  them  are  also  covered 

*  Travels  along  the  Mediterranean  and  parts  adjacent,  vol.  ii.  p.  285. 


132  DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

with  sentences  from  the  Koran.  At  this  height  there  are 
seven  elegant  windows  on  each  side,  except  where  the 
porches  interfere,  and  then  there  are  only  six  ;  the  general 
appearance  of  the  edifice  being  extremely  light  and  beauti¬ 
ful,  more  especially  from  the  mixture  of  the  soft  colours 
above  and  the  delicate  tints  of  the  marble  in  the  main  body 
of  the  structure. 

The  interior  fully  corresponds  to  the  magnificence  and 
beauty  just  described.  There  are  twenty-four  marble  co¬ 
lumns,  placed  parallel  to  the  eight  sides  of  the  building, 
three  opposite  to  each  side,  so  as  still  to  preserve  the  octago¬ 
nal  form.  Eight  of  them  are  large  plain  pillars  belong¬ 
ing  to  no  particular  order  of  architecture,  and  all  standing 
opposite  to  the  eight  entering  angles  of  the  edifice,  and 
deeply  indented  on  the  inner  side  ;  so  that  they  furnish  an 
acute  termination  to  the  octagonal  lines  within.  Between 
every  two  of  the  square  columns  there  are  two  of  a  round 
figure,  well  proportioned,  and  resting  on  a  base.  They  are 
from  eighteen  to  twenty  feet  high,  with  a  sort  of  Corinthian 
capital.  A  large  square  plinth  of  marble  extends  from  the 
top  of  the  one  column  to  the  other,  and  above  it  there  is 
constructed  a  number  of  arches  all  round,  which  support  the 
inner  end  of  the  roof  or  ceiling,  the  outer  end  resting  upon 
the  walls  of  the  building.  This  is  composed  of  wood,  or 
plaster,  highly  ornamented  with  a  species  of  carving,  and 
richly  gilt.  , 

But  this  gorgeous  temple  owes  both  its  name  and  exist¬ 
ence  to  a  large  irregular  mass  of  stone,  having  an  oblong 
shape,  which  still  occupies  the  centre  of  the  mosque.  It  is 
a  portion  of  the  calcareous  rock  on  which  the  city  is  built, 
and  which  prevails  in  the  other  mountains  in  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  of  Jerusalem,  having  very  much  the  appearance  of 
being  a  part  of  the  bed  that  might  have  been  left  when  the 
foundation  of  the  building  was  levelled.  It  rises  highest 
towards  the  south-west  corner,  and  falls  abruptly  at  the  end, 
where  are  the  prints  of  the  Prophet’s  foot.  It  is  irregular 
on  the  upper  surface,  the  same  as  when  it  was  broken  from 
the  quarry.  It  is  enclosed  all  round  with  a  wooden  rail 
about  four  feet  high,  and  which  in  every  place  is  nearly  in 
contact  with  the  stone.  We  have  already  mentioned  that 
there  is  a  cover  or  canopy  of  variously-coloured  silk  sus¬ 
pended  over  it ;  and  nothing,  we  are  assured  can  be  held 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  133 

in  higher  veneration  than  the  Hadjr-el-sakhara,  the  Lockcd- 
up  Stone.* 

But  this  fragment  of  limestone  has  more  weighty  preten¬ 
sions  to  the  veneration  of  the  Moslem  than  the  mere  print 
of  the  angel  Gabriel’s  fingers  or  of  the  Prophet’s  foot ;  for, 
like  the  Palladium  of  ancient  Troy,  it  is  said  to  have  fallen 
from  heaven  on  this  very  spot,  at  the  time  when  prophecy 
commenced  in  Jerusalem.  It  was  employed  as  a  seat  by  the 
venerable  men  to  whom  that  gift  was  communicated  ;  and, 
as  long  as  the  spirit  of  vaticination  continued  to  enlighten 
their  minds,  the  slab  remained  steady  for  their  accommoda¬ 
tion.  But  no  sooner  was  the  power  of  prophecy  with¬ 
drawn,  and  the  persecuted  seers  compelled  to  flee  for  safety 
to  other  lands,  than  the  stone  is  declared  to  have  manifested 
the  profound est  sympathy  in  their  fate,  and  even  to  have 
resolved  to  accompany  them  in  their  flight.  On  this  occa¬ 
sion  Gabriel  the  archangel  interposed  his  authority,  and 
prevented  the  departure  of  the  prophetical  chair.  He 
grasped  it  with  his  mighty  hand,  and  nailed  it  to  its  rocky 
bed  till  the  arrival  of  Mohammed,  who,  horsed  on  the  light¬ 
ning’s  wing,  flew  thither  from  Mecca,  joined  the  society  of 
seventy  thousand  ministering  spirits,  and,  having  offered  up 
his  devotions  to  the  throne  of  God,  fixed  the  stone  immove- 
ably  in  this  holy  site,  around  which  the  Caliph  Omar  erected 
his  magnificent  mosque. 

Within  the  same  enclosure  there  is  another  house  of 
prayer  called  El  Aksa,  which,  though  a  fine  building,  is 
greatly  inferior  to  El  Sakhara.  Between  the  two  there  is 
a  beautiful  fountain,  which  takes  its  name  from  a  clump 
of  orange-trees  overshadowing  its  water.  The  mosque  is 
composed  of  seven  naves  supported  by  pillars  and  columns, 
and  at  the  head  of  the  centre  nave  is  a  fine  cupola.  Two 
others  branch  off  at  right  angles  to  the  principal  body  of  the 
edifice.  Before  it  is  a  portico  of  seven  arches  in  front  and 
one  in  depth,  supported  by  square  pillars.  Ali  Bey,  who 
in  his  character  of  Mussulman  was  permitted  to  examine 
the  holy  fane  at  leisure,  describes  the  great  central  nave  of 
the  Aksa  as  about  162  feet  long  and  32  broad.  It  is  sup¬ 
ported  on  each  side  by  seven  arches  lightly  pointed,  resting 
upon  cylindrical  pillars,  in  the  form  of  columns,  but  with- 

*  Richardson’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  301. 

M 


134 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


out  any  architectural  proportion,  with  foliaged  capitals 
which  do  not  belong  to  any  order.  The  fourth  pillar  to  the 
right  of  the  entrance  is  octangular,  and  enormously  thick. 
It  is  called  the  pillar  of  Sidi  Omar.  The  walls  rise  13  feet 
above  the  tops  of  the  arches,  and  contain  two  rows  of 
twenty-one  windows  each.  The  roof  is  of  timber,  without 
being  vaulted.  The  cupola  is  supported  by  four  large 
arches  resting  upon  four  square  pillars.  It  is  spherical,  with 
two  rows  of  windows,  and  is  ornamented  with  arabesque 
paintings  and  gilding  of  exquisite  beauty.  Its  diameter  is 
equal  to  that  of  the  central  nave. 

M.  Burckhardt  describes  the  Holy  House  in  Jerusalem  as 
a  union  of  several  buildings  erected  at  different  periods  of 
Islamism,  bearing  upon  them  demonstrative  proofs  of  the 
prevailing  taste  of  the  various  ages  in  which  they  were  suc¬ 
cessively  constructed.  It  is  not  precisely  one  mosque,  but 
a  group  of  mosques.  Its  name  in  Arabic,  El  Haram, 
strictly  signifies  a  temple  or  place  consecrated  by  the  pecu¬ 
liar  presence  of  the  Divinity.  The  profane  and  the  infidel 
are  forbidden  to  enter  it.  The  Mussulman  religion  acknow¬ 
ledges  but  two  temples,  those,  namely,  of  Mecca  and  of 
Jerusalem  :  both  are  called  El  Haram ;  both  are  equally 
prohibited  by  law  to  Christians,  Jews,  and  every  other  per¬ 
son  who  is  not  a  believer  in  the  Prophet.  The  mosques, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  considered  merely  as  places  of  meet¬ 
ing  for  certain  acts  of  worship,  and  are  not  held  so  espe¬ 
cially  consecrated  as  to  demand  the  total  exclusion  of  all 
who  do  not  profess  the  true  faith.  Entrance  into  them  is 
not  denied  to  the  unbeliever  by  any  statute  of  the  Moham¬ 
medan  law ;  and  hence  it  is  not  uncommon  for  Christians 
at  Constantinople  to  receive  from  the  government  a  written 
order  to  visit  even  the  Mosque  of  St.  Sophia.  But  the 
sultan  himself  could  not  grant  permission  to  an  infidel 
either  to  pass  into  the  territory  of  Mecca,  or  to  enter  the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem.  A  firman  granting  such  privileges 
would  be  regarded  as  a  most  horrid  sacrilege  :  it  would  not 
be  respected  by  the  people  ;  and  the  favoured  object  would 
inevitably  become  the  victim  of  his  own  imprudent  boldness.* 

In  the  interior  of  the  rock  whereon  the  Sakhara  stands 
there  is  a  cave,  into  which  Dr.  Richardson  could  not  obtain 


*  Travels  of  Ali  Bey,  vol.  ii.  p.  214. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


135 


admittance.  He  was  four  times  in  the  mosque,  and  went 
twice  thither  under  the  express  assurance  that  its  doors 
should  be  thrown  open  to  him.  But  when  he  arrived  the 
key  was  always  wanting,  and  when  the  keeper  of  it  was 
sought  he  could  never  be  found.  Ali  Bey,  who  encoun¬ 
tered  no  obstacle,  reveals  all  the  mystery  of  this  subterra¬ 
nean  mansion.  It  is  a  room  forming  an  irregular  square 
of  about  eighteen  feet  surface,  and  eight  feet  high  in  the 
middle.  The  roof  is  that  of  a  natural  vault,  quite  irregular. 
In  descending  the  staircase,  there  is  upon  the  right-hand, 
near  the  bottom,  a  little  tablet  of  marble,  bearing  the  name 
of  El  Makam  Souleman,  the  Place  of  Solomon.  A  similar 
one  upon  the  left  is  named  El  Makam  Daoud,  the  Place  of 
David.  A  cavity  or  niche  on  the  south-west  side  of  the 
rock  is  called  El  Makam  Ibrahim,  the  Place  of  Abraham. 
A  similar  concave  step  at  the  north-west  angle  is  described 
as  El  Makmn  Djibrila,  the  place  of  Gabriel ;  and  a  sort  of 
stone  table  at  the  north-east  angle  is  denominated  El  Makam 
el  Hoder,  the  Place  of  Elias.  In  the  roof  of  the  apart¬ 
ment,  exactly  in  the  middle,  there '  is  an  aperture  almost 
cylindrical  through  the  whole  thickness  of  the  rock,  about 
three  feet  in  diameter.  This  is  the  Place  of  the  Prophet. 

M.  Burckhardt  observed  a  copy  of  the  Koran,  the  leaves 
of  which  were  four  feet  long,  and  more  than  two  feet  and  a 
half  broad.  Tradition  reports  that  it  belonged  to  the  Caliph 
Omar  ;  but  he  saw  a  similar  one  in  the  grand  mosque  at 
Cairo,  and  another  at  Mecca,  to  both  of  which  the  same 
origin  is  assigned.  The  drawings  supplied  by  this  enter¬ 
prising  traveller  give  a  very  distinct  notion  of  the  extent 
and  magnificence  of  the  great  Mussulman  temple, — the 
most  prominent  object  in  the  modern  Jerusalem,  and  occu¬ 
pying  the  site  of  the  still  more  interesting  edifice  erected  by 
Solomon  in  the  proudest  period  of  Jewish  history. 

But  the  Christian  pilgrim,  who  walks  about  the  holy  city 
“  to  tell  her  towers  and  mark  her  bulwarks,”  is  more 
readily  attracted  by  less  splendid  objects,  the  memorials  of 
his  own  more  humble  faith.  Among  these  the  most  re¬ 
markable  is  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  which  is 
built  on  the  lower  part  of  the  sloping  hill  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  Acra,  near  the  place  where  it  is  joined  to 
Mount  Moriah.  The  Turkish  government,  aware  of  the 
veneration  which  all  Christians  entertain  for  relics  in  any 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


136 

way  connected  with  the  sufferings  of  the  great  Author  of 
their  religion,  have  converted  this  feeling  into  a  source  of 
revenue  ;  every  person  not  subject  to  the  Sublime  Porte, 
who  visits  the  shrine  of  Jesus  Christ,  being  compelled  to  pay 
a  certain  sum  of  money  for  admittance.  But  the  church, 
nevertheless,  is  opened  only  on  particular  days  of  the  week, 
and  cannot  be  seen  at  any  other  time  without  an  order  from 
the  two  convents,  the  Latin  and  the  Greek,  with  the  sanc¬ 
tion  of  the  governor  of  the  city.  On  such  occasions  the 
pressure  at  the  doors  is  very  great ;  the  zeal  of  the  pilgrims 
checked  by  the  insolence  of  the  Turks,  who  delight  to  insult 
and  disappoint  their  anxiety,  leading  sometimes  to  scenes 
of  tumult  not  quite  in  harmony  with  their  pious  motives. 
We  shall  give  an  account  of  the  effect  produced  by  the  local 
and  historical  associations  of  the  place  on  a  sober  spirit,  hi 
the  words  of  a  traveller  to  whom  we  have  been  already 
indebted  : — • 

“  The  mind  is  not  withdrawn  from  the  important  con¬ 
cerns  of  this  hallowed  spot  by  any  tasteful  decorations  or 
dignified  display  of  architecture  in  its  plan  or  in  its  walls  ; 
but  having  cleared  the  throng,  the  religion  of  the  place  is 
allowed  to  take  full  possession  of  the  soul,  and  the  visiter 
feels  as  if  he  were  passing  into  the  presence  of  the  great 
and  immaculate  Jehovah,  and  summoned  to  give  an  ac¬ 
count  of  the  most  silent  and  secret  thoughts  of  his  heart. 
Having  passed  within  these  sacred  walls,  the  attention  is 
first  directed  to  a  large  flat  stone  in  the  floor,  a  little  within 
the  door  ;  it  is  surrounded  by  a  rail,  and  several  lamps  hang 
suspended  over  it.  The  pilgrims  approach  it  on  their 
knees  ;  touch  and  kiss  it,  and  prostrating  themselves  before 
it,  offer  up  their  prayers  in  holy  adoration.  This  is  the  stone 
on  which  the  body  of  our  Lord  was  washed  and  anointed, 
and  prepared  for  the  tomb.  Turning  to  the  left  and  pro¬ 
ceeding  a  little  forward,  we  came  into  a  round  space  imme¬ 
diately  under  the  dome,  surrounded  with  sixteen  large 
columns  which  support  the  gallery  above.  In  the  centre 
of  this  space  stands  the  Holy  Sepulchre  ;  it  is  enclosed  in 
an  oblong  house,  rounded  at  one  end  with  small  arcades  or 
chapels  for  prayer,  on  the  outside  of  it.  These  are  for  the 
Copts,  the  Abyssinians,  the  Syrian  Mareonites,  and  other 
Christians,  who  are  not,  like  the  Roman  Catholics,  the 
Greeks,  and  Armenians,  provided  with  large  chapels  in  the 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  I'd  7 

body  of  the  church.  At  the  other  end  it  is  squared  off  and 
furnished  with  a  platform  in  front,  which  is  ascended  by  a 
flight  of  steps,  having  a  small  parapet-wall  of  marble  on 
each  hand,  and  floored  with  the  same  material.  In  the 
middle  of  this  small  platform  stands  a  block  of  polished 
marble  about  a  foot  and  a  half  square  ;  on  this  stone  sat 
the  angel  who  announced  the  blessed  tidings  of  the  resur¬ 
rection  to  Mary  Magdalene,  and  Joanna,  and  Mary  the 
mother  of  James.  Advancing,  and  taking  off  our  shoes 
and  turbans  at  the  desire  of  the  keeper,  he  drew  aside  the 
curtain,  and  stepping  down,  and  bending  almost  to  the 
ground,  we  entered  by  a  lowr  narrow  door  into  this  mansion 
of  victory,  where  Christ  triumphed  over  the  grave,  and  dis¬ 
armed  Death  of  all  his  terrors.  Here  the  mind  looks  on 
Him  who,  though  he  knew  no  sin,  yet  entered  the  man¬ 
sions  of  the  dead  to  redeem  us  from  death,  and  the  prayers 
of  a  grateful  heart  ascend  with  a  risen  Saviour  to  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  God  in  heaven.”* 

The  tomb  exhibited  is  a  sarcophagus  of  white  marble, 
slightly  tinged  with  blue,  being  fully  six  feet  long,  three 
feet  broad,  and  two  feet  two  inches  deep.  It  is  but  indif¬ 
ferently  polished,  and  seems  as  if  it  had  at  one  time  been 
exposed  to  the  action  of  the  atmosphere,  by  which  it  has 
been  considerably  affected.  It  is  without  any  ornament, 
made  in  the  Greek  fashion,  and  not  like  the  more  ancient 
tombs  of  the  Jews,  which  we  see  cut  in  the  rock  for  the 
reception  of  the  dead.  There  are  seven  lamps  constantly 
burning  over  it,  the  gifts  of  different  sovereigns  in  a  suc¬ 
cession  of  ages.  It  occupies  about  one-half  of  the  sepul¬ 
chral  chamber,  and  extends  from  one  end  of  it  to  the  other. 
A  space  about  three  feet  wide  in  front  of  it  is  all  that 
remains  for  the  accommodation  of  visiters,  so  that  not  more 
than  three  or  four  can  be  conveniently  admitted  at  a  time. 

Leaving  this  hallowed  spot,  the  pilgrim  is  conducted  to 
the  place  where  our  Lord  appeared  to  Mary  Magdalene, 
and  next  to  the  Chapel  of  Apparition,  where  he  presented 
himself  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  The  Greeks  have  an  oratory 
opposite  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  in  which  they  have  set  up 
a  globe,  representing,  as  they  are  pleased  to  imagine,  the 
centre  of  the  earth  ;  thus  transferring  from  Delphi  to  Je- 


*  Richardson’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  321. 

M2 


138  DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

rusalem  the  absurd  notions  of  the  pagan  priests  of  anti¬ 
quity  relative  to  the  figure  of  the  habitable  world.  After 
this  he  enters  a  dark  narrow  staircase,  which,  by  about 
twenty  steps,  carries  him  to  Mount  Calvary.  “  This,”  ex¬ 
claims  Dr.  Richardson,  “  is  the  centre,  the  grand  magnet 
of  the  Christian  church  :  from  this  proceed  life  and  salva¬ 
tion  ;  thither  all  hearts  tend  and  all  eyes  are  directed  ;  here 
kings  and  queens  cast  down  their  crowns,  and  great  men 
and  women  part  with  their  ornaments  ;  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross  all  are  on  a  level,  equally  needy  and  equally  welcome.”* 

On  Calvary  is  shown  the  spot  where  the  Redeemer  was 
nailed  to  the  cross,  the  hole  into  which  the  end  of  it  was 
fixed,  and  the  rent  in  the  rock.  All  these  are  covered  with 
marble,  perforated  in  the  proper  places,  so  that  they  may 
be  seen  and  touched.  Near  at  hand  a  cross  is  erected  on 
an  elevated  part  of  the  ground,  and  a  wooden  body  stretched 
upon  it  in  the  attitude  of  suffering.  Descending  from  the 
Mount,  the  traveller  enters  the  chapel  of  St.  Helena,  the 
mother  of  Constantine,  in  which  is  the  vault  where  the 
true  cross  is  said  to  have  been  found, — an  event  that  con¬ 
tinues  to  be  celebrated  every  year  on  the  third  of  May  by 
an  appropriate  mass.  The  place  is  large  enough  to  con¬ 
tain  about  thirty  or  forty  individuals,  and  on  that  annual 
solemnity  it  is  usually  crowded  to  the  door. 

The  spirit  in  which  these  commemorations  are  some¬ 
times  performed  is  by  no  means  honourable  to  the  Christian 
character.  An  ancient  rivalry  between  the  members  of  the 
Greek  and  those  of  the  Roman  communion  continues  to 
imbitter  their  disputes  in  regard  to  their  respective  privi¬ 
leges  and  procedure.  Maundrell  informs  us  that  in  his 
time  each  fraternity  had  their  own  altar  and  sanctuary,  at 
which  they  had  a  peculiar  right  to  celebrate  divine  service 
and  to  exclude  all  other  nations.  But,  says  he,  that  which 
has  always  been  the  great  prize  contended  for  by  the  several 
sects,  is  the  command  and  appropriation  of  the  Holy  Sepul¬ 
chre  ;  a  privilege  contested  with  so  much  unchristian  fury 
and  animosity,  especially  between  the  Greeks  and  Latins, 
that,  in  disputing  which  party  should  go  in  to  celebrate 
their  mass,  they  have  sometimes  proceeded  to  blows  and 
wounds,  even  at  the  very  door  of  the  sepulchre,  mingling 

*nn - ,rn,  -  R  32& 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


139 


their  own  blood  with  their  sacrifices.  The  King  of  France 
interposed  about  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
obtained  an  order  from  the  grand  vizier  to  put  that  holy 
place  into  the  possession  of  the  Western  Church  ;  an  ar¬ 
rangement  which  was  accomplished  in  the  year  1690,  and 
secured  to  the  Latins  the  exclusive  privilege  of  saying  mass 
in  it.  “And  though  it  be  permitted  to  Christians  of  all 
nations  to  go  into  it  for  their  private  devotions,  yet  none 
other  may  solemnize  any  public  office  of  religion  there.”* 

The  daily  employment  of  these  recluses  is  to  trim  the 
lamps,  and  to  make  devotional  visits  and  processions  to  the 
several  sanctuaries  in  the  church.  Thus  they  spend  their 
time,  many  of  them  for  four  or  six  years  together ;  nay,  so 
far  are  some  transported  with  the  pleasing  contemplation  in 
which  they  here  entertain  themselves,  that  they  will  never 
come  out  to  their  dying  day ;  burying  themselves,  as  it  were, 
alive  in  our  Lord’s  grave. f 

It  was  at  the  holy  season  of  Easter  that  Mr.  Maundrell 
visited  Jerusalem,  when  he  witnessed  the  annual  service 
performed  by  the  monks ;  rather  too  minutely  descriptive, 
perhaps,  of  the  great  event  to  which  it  refers.  “  Their 
ceremony  begins  on  Good  Friday  night,  which  is  called  by 
them  the  Nox  Tenebrosa,  and  is  observed  with  such  an  ex¬ 
traordinary  solemnity  that  I  cannot  omit  to  give  a  particular 
description  of  it: — As  soon  as  it  grew  dark,  all  the  friars 
and  pilgrims  were  convened  in  the  chapel  of  the  Apparition, 
in  order  to  go  in  a  procession  round  the  church.  But  before 
they  set  out  one  of  the  friars  preached  a  sermon  in  Italian. 
He  began  his  discourse  thus  : — In  questa  notte  tenebrosa , — 
at  which  words  all  the  candles  were  instantly  put  out,  to 
yield  a  livelier  image  of  the  occasion  :  and  so  we  were  held 
by  the  preacher  for  near  half  an  hour  very  much  in  the  dark. 
Sermon  being  ended,  every  person  present  had  a  large 
lighted  taper  put  into  his  hand,  as  if  it  were  to  make  amends 
for  the  former  darkness  ;  and  the  crucifixes  and  other  uten¬ 
sils  were  disposed  in  order  for  beginning  the  procession. 
Among  the  other  crucifixes  there  was  one  of  a  very  large 
size,  which  bore  upon  it  the  image  of  our  Lord  as  big  as  the 
life.  The  image  was  fastened  to  it  with  great  nails,  crowned 
with  thorns,  and  besmeared  with  blood  ;  and  so  exquisitely 

*  Maundrell’s  Journey  from  Aleppo  to  Jerusalem,  p.  71. 


140 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


was  it  formed,  that  it  represented,  in  a  very  lively  manner,' 
the  lamentable  spectacle  of  our  Lord’s  body  as  it  hung  upon 
the  cross.  This  figure  was  carried  all  along  in  the  head  of 
the  procession ;  after  which  the  company  followed  to  all  the 
sanctuaries  in  the  church,  singing  their  appointed  hymn  at 
every  one. 

“  The  first  place  they  visited  was  that  of  the  pillar  of 
Flagellation,  a  large  piece  of  which  is  kept  in  a  little  cell 
just  at  the  door  of  the  chapel  of  the  Apparition.  There 
they  sang  their  proper  hymn  ;  and  another  friar  entertained 
the  company  with  a  sermon  in  Spanish,  touching  the 
scourging  of  our  Lord.  From  hence  they  proceeded  in 
solemn  order  to  the  prison  of  Christ,  where  they  pretend  he 
was  secured  while  the  soldiers  made  things  ready  for  his 
crucifixion ;  here  likewise  they  sang  their  hymn,  and  a 
third  friar  preached  in  French.  From  the  prison  they  went 
to  the  altar  of  the  Division  of  our  Lord’s  garments,  where 
they  only  sang  their  hymn  without  adding  any  sermon. 
Having  done  here,  they  advanced  to  the  chapel  of  the  Di¬ 
vision  ;  at  which,  after  their  hymn,  they  had  a  fourth  sermon, 
as  I  remember,  in  French. 

“  From  this  place  they  went  up  to  Calvary,  leaving  their 
shoes  at  the  bottom  of  the  stairs.  Here  are  two  altars  to  be 
visited ;  one  where  our  Lord  is  supposed  to  have  been 
nailed  to  the  cross,  another  where  his  cross  was  erected. 
At  the  former  of  these  they  laid  down  the  great  crucifix 
upon  the  floor,  and  acted  a  kind  of  resemblance  of  Christ’s 
being  nailed  to  the  cross  ;  and  after  the  hymn  another  friar 
preached  a  sermon  in  Spanish  upon  the  crucifixion.  From 
hence  they  removed  to  the  adjoining  altar,  where  the  cross 
is  supposed  to  have  been  erected,  bearing  the  image  of  our 
Lord’s  body.  At  this  altar  is  a  hole  in  the  natural  rock, 
said  to  be  the  very  same  individual  one  in  which  the  foot  of 
our  Lord’s  cross  stood.  Here  they  set  up  their  cross  with 
the  bloody  crucified  image  upon  it ;  and  leaving  it  in  that 
posture,  they  first  sang  their  hymn,  and  then  the  father 
guardian,  sitting  in  a  chair  before  it,  preached  a  passion- 
sermon  in  Italian. 

“  At  about  one  yard  and  a  half  distant  from  the  hole  in 
which  the  foot  of  the  cross  was  fixed  is  seen  that  memo¬ 
rable  cleft  in  the  rock,  said  to  have  been  made  by  the  earth¬ 
quake  which  happened  at  the  suffering  of  the  God  of 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


141 


nature  ;  when,  as  St.  Matthew  witnesseth,  the  rocks  rent  and 
the  very  graves  were  opened.  This  cleft,  or  what  now  ap¬ 
pears  of  it,  is  about  a  span  wide  at  its  upper  part,  and  two 
deep  ;  after  which  it  closes.  But  it  opens  again  below,  as 
you  may  see  in  another  chapel  contiguous  to  the  side  of 
Calvary,  and  runs  down  to  an  unknown  depth  in  the  earth. 
That  this  rent  was  made  by  the  earthquake  that  happened 
at  our  Lord’s  passion  there  is  only  tradition  to  prove  ;  but 
that  it  is  a  natural  and  genuine  breach,  and  not  counter¬ 
feited  by  any  art,  the  sense  and  reason  of  every  one  that 
sees  it  may  convince  him  ;  for  the  sides  of  it  fit  like  two  tal¬ 
lies  to  each  other,  and  yet  it  runs  in  such  intricate  windings 
as  could  not  well  be  counterfeited  by  art,  nor  arrived  at  by 
any  instruments. 

“  The  ceremony  of  the  passion  being  over,  and  the  guar¬ 
dian’s  sermon  ended,  two  friars,  personating,  the  one  Joseph 
of  Arimathea,  the  other  Nicodemus,  approached  the  cross, 
and  with  a  most  solemn,  concerned  air,  both  of  aspect  and 
behaviour,  drew  out  the  great  nails,  and  took  down  the 
feigned  body  from  the  cross.  It  was  an  effigies  so  con¬ 
trived  that  its  limbs  were  soft  and  flexible,  as  if  they  had 
been  real  flesh  ;  and  nothing  could  be  more  surprising  than 
to  see  the  two  pretended  mourners  bend  down  the  arms 
which  w'ere  before  extended,  and  dispose  them  upon  the 
trunk  in  such  a  manner  as  is  usual  in  corpses.  The  body 
being  taken  down  from  the  cross  was  received  in  a  fair  large 
winding-sheet,  and  carried  down  from  Calvary ;  the  whole 
company  attending  as  before  to  the  stone  of  Unction.  This 
is  taken  for  the  very  place  where  the  precious  body  of  our 
Lord  was  anointed  and  prepared  for  the  burial.  Here  they 
laid  dowrn  their  imaginary  corpse  ;  and  casting  over  it  seve¬ 
ral  sweet  powders  and  spices,  wrapped  it  up  in  the  winding- 
sheet.  While  this  was  doing  they  sang  their  proper  hymn, 
and  afterward  one  of  the  friars  preached  in  Arabic  a  funeral- 
sermon.  These  obsequies  being  finished,  they  carried  off’ 
their  fancied  corpse  and  laid  it  in  the  Sepulchre,  shutting 
up  the  door  till  Easter  morning.  And  now,  after  so  many 
sermons,  and  so  long,  not  to  say  tedious,  a  ceremony,  it  may 
well  be  imagined  that  the  weariness  of  the  congregation, 
as  well  as  the  hour  of  the  night,  made  it  needful  to  go  to 
rest.”* 


*  Journey,  p.  74. 


142 


DESCRIPTION  OP  JERUSALEM. 


Easter-eve  passed  without  any  remarkable  observance, — - 
a  period  of  leisure  which  was  employed  by  many  of  the  pil¬ 
grims  in  having  their  arms  marked  with  the  usual  ensigns 
of  Jerusalem.  “  The  artists  who  undertake  the  operation 
do  it  in  this  manner  ;  they  have  stamps  of  wood  of  any 
figure  that  you  desire,  which  they  first  print  off  upon  your 
arm  with  powder  of  charcoal,  then  taking  two  very  fine 
needles  tied  close  together,  and  dipping  them  often,  like  a 
pen,  in  certain  ink  compounded,  as  I  was  informed,  of  gun¬ 
powder  and  ox-gall,  they  make  with  them  small  punctures 
all  along  the  lines  of  the  figure  which  they  have  printed ; 
and  then,  washing  the  part  in  wine,  conclude  the  work. 
The  punctures  they  make  with  great  quickness  and  dex¬ 
terity,  and  with  scarce  any  smart,  seldom  piercing  so  deep 
as  to  draw  blood.  In  the  afternoon  of  this  day  the  congre¬ 
gation  was  assembled  in  the  area  before  the  holy  grave, 
where  the  friars  spent  some  hours  in  singing  over  the 
Lamentations  of  Jeremiah  ;  which  function,  with  the  usual 
procession  to  the  holy  places,  was  all  the  ceremony  required 
by  the  ritual  of  the  place.” 

On  Easter-day  the  scene  was  changed  from  gloom  to  the 
most  lively  congratulation.  “  The  clouds  of  the  former 
morning  were  cleared  up  ;  and  the  friars  put  on  a  face  of 
joy  and  serenity,  as  if  it  had  been  the  real  juncture  of  our 
Lord’s  resurrection.  Nor  doubtless  was  this  joy  feigned, 
whatever  their  mourning  might  be  ;  this  being  the  day  on 
which  their  Lenten  disciplines  expired,  and  they  were  now 
come  to  a  full  belly  again.  The  mass  was  celebrated  this 
morning  just  before  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  being  the  most  emi¬ 
nent  place  in  the  church ;  where  the  father  guardian  had  a 
throne  erected,  and  being  arrayed  in  episcopal  robes,  with 
a  mitre  on  his  head,  in  the  sight  of  the  Turks  he  gave  the 
Host  to  all  that  were  disposed  to  receive  it ;  not  refusing  it 
to  children  of  seven  or  eight  years  old.  This  office  being 
ended,  we  made  our  exit  out  of  the  Sepulchre,  and  returning 
to  the  convent,  dined  with  the  friars.”* 

The  latest  travellers  in  Palestine  witnessed  similar  ob¬ 
servances  on  the  same  solemn  occasion,  none  of  which  were 
in  the  least  calculated  to  edify  an  enlightened  mind,  and 


*  Journey,  p.  70. 


DESCRIPTION  OP  JERUSALEM.  143 

many  of  them  stich  as  could  not  be  contemplated  without 
feelings  of  just  indignation,  mingled  with  contempt. 

There  is  no  greater  obstacle  to  the  propagation  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  among  the  Syrian  tribes,  and  more  especially  among 
the  Turks  and  Jews,  than  the  foolish  exhibitions  which  dis¬ 
grace  the  return  of  the  principal  festivals  in  the  Holy  Land. 
The  mummeries  already  described  could  not  fail  to  be  suf¬ 
ficiently  revolting  to  a  people  who  permit  not  any  image  or 
representation  of  created  things,  even  in  the  uses  of  ordinary 
life.  Still,  the  sincerity  and  apparent  devotion  with  which 
the  ceremony  of  the  crucifixion  was  performed  might,  in 
some  degree,  atone  for  the  unseemly  method  adopted  by  the 
monks  to  commemorate  an  event  at  once  so  solemn  and  im¬ 
portant.  But  what  shall  be  said  in  defence  of  the  manifest 
fraud  which  is  annually  practised  in  Jerusalem  on  E  aster- 
eve  by  the  Greek  church,  when  the  credulous  multitude  are 
taught  to  believe  that  fire  descends  from  heaven  into  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  to  kindle  their  lamps  and  torches  1 

Upon  comparing  the  description  given  by  Maundrell  with 
the  accounts  of  the  latest  travellers,  we  perceive  that  nearly 
a  century  and  a  half  has  passed  away  without  producing 
any  improvement,  and  that  the  friars  of  the  present  age  are 
probably  not  less  ignorant  or  dishonest  than  their  predeces¬ 
sors  five  hundred  years  ago.  “  They  began  their  disorders 
by  running  round  the  Holy  Sepulchre  with  all  their  might 
and  swiftness,  crying  out  as  they  went  huia ,  which  signifies 
this  is  he ,  or  this  is  it , — an  expression  by  which  they  assert 
the  verity  of  the  Christian  religion.  After  they  had  by  these 
religious  circulations  and  clamours  turned  their  heads  and 
inflamed  their  madness,  they  began  to  act  the  most  antic 
tricks  and  postures  in  a  thousand  shapes  of  distraction. 
Sometimes  they  dragged  one  another  along  the  floor  all 
round  the  Sepulchre  ;  sometimes  they  set  one  man  upright 
upon  another’s  shoulders,  and  in  this  posture  marched 
round  ;  sometimes  they  tumbled  round  the  Sepulchre  after 
the  manner  of  tumblers  on  the  stage.  In  a  word,  nothing 
can  be  imagined  more  rude  or  extravagant  than  what  was 
acted  upon  this  occasion.”* 

“  The  Greeks  first  set  out  in  a  procession  round  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  and  immediately  at  their  heels  followed  the  Ar- 


*  Maundrell’s  Journey,  p.  94. 


144 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


menians.  In  this  order  they  compassed  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
thrice,  having  produced  all  their  gallantry  of  standards, 
streamers,  crucifixes,  and  embroidered  habits.  Towards 
the  end  of  this  procession  there  was  a  pigeon  came  flutter¬ 
ing  into  the  cupola  over  the  Sepulchre,  at  sight  of  which 
there  was  a  greater  shout  and  clamour  than  before.  This 
bird,  the  Latins  told  us,  was  purposely  let  fly  by  the  Greeks 
to  deceive  the  people  into  an  opinion  that  it  was  a  visible 
descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  procession  being  over,  the 
suffragan  of  the  Greek  patriarch  and  the  principal  Arme¬ 
nian  bishop  approached  to  the  door  of  the  Sepulchre,  and, 
cutting  the  string  with  which  it  is  fastened  and  sealed,  en¬ 
tered  in,  shutting  the  door  after  them,  all  the  candles  and 
lamps  within  having  been  before  extinguished  in  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  the  Turks  and  other  witnesses.  The  exclamations 
were  doubled  as  the  miracle  drew  nearer  to  its  accomplish¬ 
ment  ;  and  the  people  pressed  with  such  vehemence  towards 
the  door  of  the  Sepulchre  that  it  was  not  in  the  power  of 
the  Turks  to  keep  them  off".  The  cause  of  their  pressing  in 
this  manner  is,  the  great  desire  they  have  to  light  their  can¬ 
dles  at  the  holy  flame  as  soon  as  it  is  first  brought  out  of 
the  Sepulchre,  it  being  esteemed  the  most  sacred  and  pure 
as  coming  immediately  from  heaven.  The  two  miracle- 
mongers  had  not  been  above  a  minute  in  the  Holy  Sepul¬ 
chre  when  the  glimmering  of  the  holy  fire  was  seen,  or 
imagined  to  appear,  through  some  chinks  of  the  door ;  and, 
certainly,  Bedlam  itself  never  saw  such  an  unruly  transport 
as  was  produced  in  the  mob  at  this  sight. 

“  Immediately  after,  out  came  two  priests  with  blazing 
torches  in  their  hands,  which  they  held  up  at  the  door  of 
the  Sepulchre  ;  while  the  people  thronged  about  with  inex¬ 
pressible  ardour,  every  one  striving  to  obtain  a  part  of  the 
first  and  purest  flame.  The  Turks,  in  the  mean  tirrie,  with 
huge  clubs  laid  on  without  mercy  ;  but  all  this  could  not 
repel  them,  the  excess  of  their  fury  making  them  insensible 
of  pain.  Those  that  got  the  fire  applied  it  immediately  to 
their  beards,  faces,  and  bosoms,  pretending  that  it  would  not 
burn  like  an  earthly  flame.  But  I  plainly  saw  none  of  them 
could  endure  this  experiment  long  enough  to  make  good  that 
pretension.  So  many  hands  being  employed,  you  may  be 
sure  it  could  not  be  long  before  innumerable  tapers  were 
lighted.  The  whole  church,  galleries,  and  every  place 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  145 

seemed  instantly  to  be  in  a  flame  ;  and  with  this  illumina¬ 
tion  the  ceremony  ended. 

“  It  must  be  owned  that  those  two  within  the  Sepulchre 
performed  their  part  with  great  quickness  and  dexterity ; 
but  the  behaviour  of  the  rabble  without  very  much  discredited 
the  miracle.  The  Latins  take  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  ex¬ 
pose  this  ceremony  as  a  most  shameful  imposture  and  a 
scandal  to  the  Christian  religion, — perhaps  out  of  envy  that 
others  should  be  masters  of  so  gainful  a  business.  But  the 
Greeks  and  Armenians  pin  their  faith  upon  it ;  such  is  the 
deplorable  unhappiness  of  their  priests,  that  having  acted 
the  cheat  so  long  already,  they  are  forced  now  to  stand  to  it 
for  fear  of  endangering  the  apostacy  of  their  people.  Going 
out  of  church  after  the  rant  was  over,  we  saw  several  people 
gathered  about  the  Stone  of  Unction,  who,  having  got  a  good 
store  of  candles  lighted  with  the  holy  fire,  were  employed 
in  daubing  pieces  of  linen  with  the  wicks  of  them  and  the 
melting  wax,  which  pieces  of  linen  were  designed  for  wind¬ 
ing-sheets.  And  it  is  the  opinion  of  these  poor  people,  that 
if  they  can  but  have  the  happiness  to  be  buried  in  a  shroud 
smutted  with  this  celestial  fire,  it  will  certainly  secure  them 
from  the  flames  of  hell.”* 

Dr.  Richardson,  who  witnessed  the  same  pitiful  cere¬ 
mony,  is  not  inclined  to  give  much  honour  to  the  performers 
in  respect  to  skill  or  dexterous  manipulation.  On  the  con¬ 
trary,  he  is  of  opinion  that  theref  is  not  a  pyrotechnist  in 
London  who  could  not  have  improved  the  exhibition.  From 
the  station  which  he  occupied  in  the  church,  being  the 
organ-loft  of  the  Roman  Catholic  division,  he  distinctly  saw 
the  flame  issuing  from  a  burning  substance  placed  within 
the  tomb,  and  which  was  raised  and  lowered  according  to 
circumstances.  The  priests  meant  to  be  very  artful,  but 
were  in  reality  very  ignorant.  Like  the  Druids  of  old,  no 
one,  under  the  pain  of  excommunication,  dared  to  light  his 
torch  at  that  of  another  ;  every  individual  was  bound  to  dc-  / 
rive  his  flame  from  the  miraculous  spark  that  descended 
from  above,  and  which  could  only  be  conveyed  by  the  hands 
of  the  chief  priest. t 

Having  seen  the  exhibition  of  this  vile  and  infamous 
*  Journey,  p.  96, 

t  “  Je  ne  decrirai  pas  la  suite  des  ceremonies  rdligieuses  qui  occupent 
le  reste  de  la  semaine  sainte :  e’est  un  r6cit  qui  pent  bien  edifier  des  ames 

N 


146 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM 


4 


delusion,  the  traveller  naturally  inquires  what  credit  he  ougM 
to  give  to  the  historical  statements  and  local  descriptions 
derived  from  the  Christians  who  now  occupy  Jerusalem. 
Are  the  honoured  spots  within  these  walls  really  what  the 
guardians  of  the  metropolitan  church  declare  them  to  be  7 
Is  the  Mount  Calvary  shown  at  this  day  in  the  holy  city  the 
actual  place  where  Christ  expired  upon  the  cross  to  redeem 
the  human  race  1  Is  the  Sepulchre  there  exhibited  really 
that  of  the  just  man  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  in  which  the 
body  of  the  blessed  Jesus  was  laid  1  Or  are  all  these  merely 
convenient  spots,  fixed  on  at  random,  and  consecrated  to 
serve  the  interested  views  of  a  crafty  priesthood  1* 

We  agree  in  the  conclusion,  that  it  is  of  no  consequence 
to  the  Christian  faith  in  what  way  these  questions  shall  be 
determined.  The  great  facts  on  which  the  history  of  the 
gospel  is  founded  are  not  so  closely  connected  with  par¬ 
ticular  spots  of  earth  or  sacred  buildings  as  to  be  rendered 
doubtful  by  any  mistake  in  the  choice  of  a  locality.  Nor  is 
there  any  material  discrepancy  between  the  opinions  of 
Chateaubriand,  which  we  are  inclined  to  adopt,  and  those 
of  Dr.  Clarke,  who  treats  with  contempt  all  the  traditions 
respecting  holy  places  ;  for  the  outline  may  be  correct, 

devotes,  mais  non  pas  plaire  A  quelqu’un  qui  lit  un  voyage  pour  sln- 
struire  et  s’amuser. 

“  11  n’en  est  pas  de  mfeme  d’une  pratique  superstitieuse  des  Grecs 
schismatiques,  dont  la  bixarrerie  ne  laissera  pas  de  divertir  un  moment. 

“  Cette  secte,  abusee  par  ses  prtltres,  croit  de  bonne  foi  que  Dieu  fait 
annuellement  un  miracle  pour  lui  envoyer  le  feu  sacrb. 

“  A  en  croire  les  prfetres  Grecs,  cette  faveur  divine,  dont  on  ne  peut  pas 
douter,  est  un  preuve  insigne  de  l’excellence  de  leur  communion.  Mais 
ne  pourrait-on  pas  objecter  aux  Grecs,  que  les  Armeniene  et  les  Cofes, 
qu’ils  traitent  d’taeretiques,  participent  k  cette  m£me  grace.  Ennemis 
acharnes  les  uns  des  autres,  les  ministres  de  ces  trois  sectes  se  r£u- 
nissent  en  apparence  pour  la  cbremonie  du  feu  sacrC.  Cette  reconcilia¬ 
tion  momentanee  n’est  due  qu’a  l’interet  de  tous ;  sbparbment  ils  seraient 
obliges  de  payer  au  gouverneur,  pour  la  permission  de  faire  la  miracle, 
une  somme  aussi  forte  que  cette  qu’ils  donnent  ensemble. 

“  Ces  pretres  portent  la  fourberie  jusqu’a  vouloir  persuader  au  peuple 
que  le  feu  sacre  ne  brule  pas  ceux  qui  sont  en  Ctat  de  grace.  Ils  se 
frottent  les  mains  d’une  certaine  eau,  qui  les  garantit  de  la  brulure  &  la 
premidre  approche,  et  par  ce  moyen  ne  se  font  aucun  mal  en  touchant 
leurs  cierges.  Leur  proselytes  sont  jaloux  de  les  imiter  ;  mais  comme  ils 
n’ont  pas  leur  recette,bien  souvent  ils  se  brulent  les  doigts  et  le  visage : 
il  arrive  dblil  que  les  pretres,  paraissant  jouir  exclusivement  de  la  grace 
de  Dieu,  en  sont  plus  respectes  et  mieux  pay6s.”— Afan'fi,  Voyages,  &c., 
tom.  ii.  p.  340. 

,  *  Richardson,  vol.  ii.  p.  333. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM.’ 


147 


although  the  minuter  details  are  open  to  a  just  suspicion. 
For  example,  it  is  now  extremely  difficult  to  trace  the  bound¬ 
aries  of  Calvary ;  the  effects  of  time  and  the  operations  of 
the  siege  under  the  Roman  prince  have  obliterated  some  of 
the  features  by  which  that  remarkable  scene  was  distin¬ 
guished  ;  it  has  even  ceased  to  present  the  appearance  of  a 
mount, — an  appellation,  by-the-way,  which  is  nowhere  given 
to  it  in  Scripture.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  the  Chris¬ 
tians  who  returned  from  Pella  to  inhabit  the  ruins  of  the 
sacred  metropolis  should  have  been  equally  ignorant  of  its 
extent  and  situation  ;  nor  is  it  at  all  probable  that  places  so 
interesting  to  the  affections  of  the  infant  church  would  be 
allowed  to  fall  into  a  speedy  oblivion. 

The  main  error  of  the  modern  priests  at  Jerusalem  arises 
from  an  anxiety  to  exhibit  every  thing  to  which  any  allusion 
is  made  by  the  evangelical  historians ;  not  remembering 
that  the  lapse  of  ages  and  the  devastation  of  successive 
wars  have  destroyed  much,  and  disguised  more,  which  the 
early  disciples  could  most  readily  identify.  The  mere  cir¬ 
cumstance  that  almost  all  the  events  which  attended  the 
close  of  our  Saviour’s  ministry  are  crowded  into  one  scene, 
covered  by  the  roof  of  a  single  church,  might  excite  a  very 
justifiable  doubt  as  to  the  exactness  of  the  topography  main¬ 
tained  by  the  friars  of  Mount  Moriah.  “  This  edifice,” 
says  Mr.  Maundrell,  “  is  less  than  one  hundred  paces  long, 
and  not  more  than  sixty  wide  ;  and  yet  it  is  so  contrived, 
that  it  is  supposed  to  contain  under  its  roof  twelve  or  thir¬ 
teen  sanctuaries,  or  places  consecrated  to  a  more  than  ordi¬ 
nary  veneration,  by  being  reputed  to  have  some  particular 
actions  done  in  them  relating  to  the  death  and  resurrection 
of  Christ,.”* 

All  that  can  now  be  affirmed,  observes  Dr.  Clarke,  with 
any  show  of  reason,  is  this,  “  that  if  Helena  had  reason  to 
believe  she  could  identify  the  spot  where  the  Sepulchre  was, 
she  took  especial  care  to  remove  every  trace  of  it,  in  order 
to  introduce  the  fanciful  and  modern  work  which  now  re¬ 
mains.  The  place  may  be  the  same  pointed  out  to  her ; 
but  not  a  remnant  of  the  original  Sepulchre  can  now  be 
ascertained.  Yet,  with  our  skeptical  feelings  thus  awakened, 
it  may  prove  how  powerful  the  effect  of  sympathy  is,  if  we 


*  Journey,  p.  69. 


148 


description  of  Jerusalem. 


Confess,  that  when  we  entered  into  the  supposed  Sepulchre, 
and  beheld,  by  the  light  of  lamps  there  continually  burning, 
the  venerable  figure  of  an  aged  monk,  with  streaming  eyes 
and  a  long  white  beard,  pointing  to  ‘  the  place  where  the 
Lord  lay,’  and  calling  upon  us  to  kneel  and  experience  par* 
don  for  our  sins, — we  did  kneel,  and  we  participated  in  the 
feelings  of  more  credulous  pilgrims.  Captain  Culverhouse, 
in  whose  mind  the  ideas  of  religion  and  of  patriotism  were 
inseparable,  with  firmer  emotion,  drew  from  its  scabbard 
the  sword  he  had  so  often  wielded  in  the  defence  of  his 
country,  and  placed  it  upon  the  tomb.  Humbler  comers 
heaped  the  memorials  of  an  accomplished  pilgrimage  ;  and 
while  their  sighs  alone  interrupted  the  silence  of  the  sanc¬ 
tuary  a  solemn  service  was  begun.”* 

It  is  observed  by  the  author  of  the  Itineraire,  that  the 
ancient  travellers  were  extremely  fortunate  in  not  being 
obliged  to  enter  into  all  these  critical  disquisitions  ;  in  the 
first  place,  because  they  found  in  their  readers  that  religion 
which  never  contends  against  truth  ;  and,  secondly,  because 
every  mind  was  convinced  that  the  only  way  of  seeing  a 
country  as  it  is  must  be  to  see  it  with  all  its  traditions  and 
recollections.  It  is,  in  fact,  with  the  Bible  as  his  guide  that 
a  traveller  ought  to  visit  the  Holy  Land.  If  we  are  deter¬ 
mined  to  carry  with  us  a  spirit  of  cavil  and  contradiction, 
Judea  is  not  worth  our  going  so  far  to  examine  it.  What 
should  we  say  to  a  man  who,  in  traversing  Greece  and  Italy, 
should  think  of  nothing  but  contradicting  Homer  and  Vir¬ 
gil  1  Such,  however,  is  the  course  adopted  by  too  many 
modern  travellers  ;  evidently  the  effect  of  our  vanity,  which 
would  excite  a  high  idea  of  our  own  abilities,  and  at  the 
same  time  fill  us  with  disdain  for  those  of  other  people.! 

A  short  time  after  M.  Chateaubriand  visited  Jerusalem, 
the  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  was  destroyed  by  fire ; 
and  although  it  has  been  since  repaired,  it  is  admitted  that 
both  the  architecture  and  the  internal  decorations  are  much 
inferior  to  those  of  the  original  edifice.  The  general  plan 
of  the  whole  building,  however,  as  well  as  the  arrangement 
of  the  holy  stations,  are  so  exactly  preserved,  that  the 
descriptions  of  the  earliest  writers  apply  as  correctly  to  its 


*  Travels,  vol.  iv.  p.  315. 


f  Vol.  ii.  p.  SI. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  149 

present  as  to  its  former  state.  It  is  true,  that  the  tombs 
of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  and  of  Baldwin  his  brother,  which 
called  forth  the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  the  French  author 
just  named,  have  been  annihilated  by  the  malignant  Greeks, 
so  that  not  a  vestige  remains  to  mark  the  spot  whereon  they 
stood.  The  Corinthian  columns  of  fine  marble  which  for¬ 
merly  adorned  the  interior  being  rendered  useless  by  the 
fire,  the  dome  is  now  supported  by  tall  slender  pillars  of 
masonry,  plastered  on  the  outside,  and  so  closely  grouped 
together  as  to  produce  the  worst  effect.  We  are  told, 
indeed,  that  the  meanness  of  every  thing  about  the  archi¬ 
tecture  of  the  central  dome,  and  of  the  whole  rotunda  which 
surrounds  the  Sepulchre  itself,  can  only  be  exceeded  by  the 
wretched  taste  of  its  painted  decorations.* 

It  was  of  the  older  building  that  the  Vicomte  made  the 
following  remarks  : — “  The  church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
composed  of  several  churches  erected  upon  an  unequal  sur¬ 
face,  illumined  by  a  multitude  of  lamps,  is  singularly  mys¬ 
terious  ;  a  sombre  light  pervades  it,  favourable  to  piety  and 
profound  devotion.  Christian  priests  of  various  sects  inhabit 
different  parts  of  the  edifice.  From  the  arches  above,  where 
they  nestle  like  pigeons,  from  the  chapels  below  and  subter¬ 
raneous  vaults,  their  songs  are  heard  at  all  hours  both  of 
the  day  and  night.  The  organ  of  the  Latin  monks,  the 
cymbals  of  the  Abyssinian  priest,  the  voice  of  the  Greek 
caloyer,  the  prayer  of  the  solitary  Armenian,  the  plaintive 
accents  of  the  Coptic  friar,  alternately,  or  all  at  once,  assail 
your  ear.  You  know  not  whence  these  accents  of  praise 
proceed ;  you  inhale  the  perfume  of  incense  without  per¬ 
ceiving  the  hand  that  burns  it :  you  merely  observe  the 
pontiff,  who  is  going  to  celebrate  the  most  awful  of  mys¬ 
teries  on  the  very  spot  where,  they  were  accomplished,  pass 
quickly  by,  glide  behind  the  columns,  and  vanish  in  the 
gloom  of  the  temple. 

“  Christian  readers  wifi  perhaps  inquire  what  were  my 
feelings  upon  entering  this  sacred  place.  I  really  cannot 
tell.  So  many  reflections  rushed  at  once  upon  my  mind, 
that  I  was  unable  to  rlwell  upon  any  particular  idea.  I 
continued  nearly  half  an  hour  upon  my  knees  in  the  little 

*  Buck/  ngham’s  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  384. 

,  N  2 


150 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


chamber  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  with  my  eyes  riveted  upon 
the  stone,  from  which  I  had  not  the  power  to  turn  them. 
One  of  the  two  monks  who  accompanied  me  remained  pros¬ 
trate  on  the  marble  by  my  side,  while  the  other,  with  the 
T estament  in  his  hand,  read  to  me  by  the  light  of  the  lamps 
the  passages  relating  to  the  sacred  tomb.  All  I  can  say  is, 
that  when  I  beheld  this  triumphant  Sepulchre,  I  felt  nothing 
but  my  own  weakness  ;  and  that  when  my  guide  exclaimed 
with  St.  Paul,  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  1  O  grave, 
where  is  thy  victory  ?  I  listened,  as  if  death  were  about 
to  reply  that  he  was  conquered  and  enchained  in  this  monu¬ 
ment.  Where  shall  we  look  in  antiquity  for  anything  so 
impressive,  so  wonderful,  as  the  last  scenes  described  by  the 
Evangelists  ?  These  are  not  the  absurd  adventures  of  a 
deity  foreign  to  human  nature  :  it  is  a  most  pathetic  history, 
* — a  history  which  not  only  extorts  tears  by  its  beauty,  but 
whose  consequences,  applied  to  the  universe,  have  changed 
the  face  of  the  earth.  I  had  just  beheld  the  monuments 
of  Greece,  and  my  mind  was  still  profoundly  impressed  with 
their  grandeur ;  but  how  far  inferior  were  the  sentiments 
which  they  excited  to  those  I  felt  at  the  sight  of  the  places 
commemorated  in  the  gospel!”* 

We  must  not  presume  to  follow  the  ardent  pilgrim  along 
the  Via  Dolorosa ,  the  name  given  to  the  way  by  which  the 
Saviour  passed  from  the  house  of  Pilate  to  the  Mount  of 
Calvary.  Nor  can  we  stop  to  revere  the  arch,  called  Ecce 
Homo ,  where,  we  are  told,  the  window  may  still  be  seen 
from  which  the  Roman  judge  exclaimed  to  the  vindictive 
Jews,  “  Behold  the  Man  !”  We  cannot  resign  our  belief  to 
the  minute  description  which  recognises  the  house  of  Simon 
the  Pharisee,  where  Mary  Magdalene  confessed  her  sins  ; 
the  prison  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  dwelling  of  Mary  the  mother 
of  Mark,  in  which  the  same  apostle  took  refuge  when  he 
was  set  at  liberty  by  the  angel ;  and  the  mansion  of  Dives, 
the  rich  man  at  whose  gate  the  mendicant  Lazarus  wras 
laid,  full  of  sores. 

On  crossing  the  small  ravine  which  divides  the  modem 
city  from  Mount  Zion,  the  attention  of  the  traveller  is 
drawn  to  three  ancient  monuments,  or  more  properly  ruins, 

*  Travels  in  Greece,  Palestine,  Egyp  t,  &u  vol.  ii.  p.  22. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


151 


Covered  with  buildings  comparatively  modern, — the  house 
of  (Jaiaphas, — the  place  where  Christ  held  his  Last  Supper, 
— and  the  tomb  or  palace  of  David.  The  first  of  these  is 
now  a  church,  the  duty  of  which  is  performed  by  the  Arme¬ 
nians  ;  the  second,  consecrated  by  the  affecting  solemnity, 
with  the  memory  of  which  it  is  still  associated,  presents  a 
mosque  and  a  Turkish  hospital ;  while  the  third,  a  small 
vaulted  apartment,  contains  only  three  sepulchres  formed 
of  dark-coloured  stone.  This  holy  hill  is  equally  celebrated 
in  the  Old  Testament  and  in  the  New.  Here  the  successor 
of  Saul  built  a  city  and  a  royal  dwelling, — here  he  kept  for 
three  months  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant, — here  the  Redeemer 
instituted  the  sacrament  which  commemorates  his  death,— 
here  he  appeared  to  his  disciples  on  the  day  of  his  resur¬ 
rection, — and  here  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  on  the  apos¬ 
tles.  The  place  hallowed  by  the  Last  Supper,  if  we  may 
believe  the  early  Fathers,  was  transformed  into  the  first 
Christian  temple  the  world  ever  saw,  where  St.  James  the 
Less  was  consecrated  the  first  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  and 
where  he  presided  in  the  first  council  of  the  church.  Finally, 
it  was  from  this  spot  that  the  apostles,  in  compliance  with 
the  injunction  to  go  and  teach  all  nations,  departed,  with¬ 
out  purse  and  without  scrip,  to  seat  their  religion  upon  all 
the  thrones  of  the  earth. 

Descending  Mount  Zion  on  the  east  side,  you  perceive 
in  the  valley  the  Fountain  and  Pool  of  Siloam,  so  celebrated 
in  the  history  of  our  Saviour’s  miracles.  The  brook  itself 
is  ill  supplied  with  water,  and,  compared  with  the  ideas 
formed  in  the  mind  by  the  fine  invocation  of  the  poet, 
usually  creates  disappointment.  Going  a  few  paces  to  the 
northward,  you  come  to  the  source  of  the  scanty  rivulet, 
which  is  called  by  some  the  Fountain  of  the  Virgin,  from 
an  opinion  that  she  frequently  came  hither  to  drink.  It 
appeals  in  a  recess  about  twenty  feet  lower  than  the  sur¬ 
face,  and  under  an  arched  vault  of  masonry  tolerably  well 
executed.  The  rock  had  been  originally  hewn  down  to 
reach  this  pool ;  and  a  small  crooked  passage,  of  which 
only  the  beginning  is  seen,  is  said  to  convey  the  water  out 
of  the  Valley  of  Siloam,  and  to  supply  the  means  of  irri¬ 
gating  the  little  gardens  still  cultivated  in  that  spot.  Not¬ 
withstanding  the  dirty  state  of  the  water,  and  its  harsh  and 


152  DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

brackish  taste,  it  is  still  used  by  devout  pilgrims  for  diseases 
of  the  eye.* 

It  is  said  to  have  a  kind  of  ebb  and  flow,  sometimes  dis¬ 
charging  its  current  like  the  Fountain  of  Yaucluse,  at  others 
retaining  and  scarcely  suffering  it  to  run  at  all.  The  Levites, 
we  are  likewise  told,  used  to  sprinkle  the  water  of  Siloam 
on  the  altar  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  saying,  “Ye  shall 
draw  water  with  joy  from  the  wells  of  salvation.”  The 
reader  will  find  on  the  opposite  page  a  representation  of  the 
Fountain  or  Pool  of  Siloam,  as  it  appeared  to  the  eye  of  an 
able  traveller ;  a  considerable  part  of  the  arch  having  fallen 
down,  or  been  destroyed  by  the  barbarians  who  continue  to 
hold  Jerusalem  in  subjection. 

The  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  stretches  between  the  eastern 
walls  of  the  city  and  the  Mount  of  Olives,  containing  a 
great  variety  of  objects,  to  which  allusion  is  made  in  the 
Sacred  Writings.  It  was  sometimes  called  the  King’s  Dale, 
from  a  reference  to  an  event  recorded  in  the  history  of 
Abraham,  and  was  afterward  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
Jehoshaphat,  because  that  sovereign  erected  in  it  a  magni¬ 
ficent  tomb.  This  narrow  vale  seems  to  have  always  served 
as  a  burying-place  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  holy  city  : 
there  you  meet  with  monuments  of  the  most  remote  ages, 
as  well  as  of  the  most  modern  times  :  thither  the  descend¬ 
ants  of  Jacob  resort  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  to 
yield  up  their  last  breath ;  and  a  foreigner  sells  to  them,  for 
its  weight  in  gold,  a  scanty  spot  of  earth  to  cover  their 
remains  in  the  land  of  their  forefathers.  “  Observing  many 
Jews,  whom  I  could  easily  recognise  by  their  yellow  tur¬ 
bans,  quick  dark  eyes,  black  eyebrows,  and  bushy  beards, 
walking  about  the  place,  and  reposing  along  the  Brook 
Kedron  in  a  pensive  mood,  the  pathetic  language  of  the 
Psalmist  occurred  to  me,  as  expressing  the  subject  of  their 

*  The  invocation  alluded  to  must  be  familiar  to  the  youngest  reader: 

“  Sing,  Heavenly  muse,  that  on  the  secret  top 
Of  Oreb  or  of  Sinai  didst  inspire 
That  shepherd  who  first  taught  the  chosen  seed, 

In  the  beginning,  how  the  heavens  and  earth 
Rose  out  of  chaos ;  or,  if  Zion  hill 
Delight  thee  more,  and  Siloa’s  brook  that  flowed 
Fast  by  the  oracle  of  God ;  I  thence 
Invoke  thy  aid  to  my  adventurous  song.” 

Paradise  Lost,  book  i. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM 


153 


neditation — ‘  By  the  rivers  we  sat  down  and  wept  when  we 
eniembcred  Zion.’  Upon  frequently  inquiring  the  motive 
hat  prompted  them  in  attemptmg  to  go  to  Jerusalem, 
mswer  was,  ‘  To  die  in  the  land  of  our  fathers. 

Th"  valley  or  dale  still  exhibits  a  very  desdate  appear¬ 
ance  The  western  side  is  a  high  challt-clift  supporting 
*e  walls  of  the  city,  above  which  you  perceive  Jerusalem 
itself;  while  the  eastern  acclivity  is  formed  by  the  Mount 

*  Travels  by  Rae  Wilson,  vol.  i.  p.  220, 


154 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM# 


of  Olives  and  the  Mount  of  Offence,  so  called  from  the 
idolatry  which  oppresses  the  fame  of  Solomon.  These  two 
hills  are  nearly  naked,  and  of  a  dull  red  colour.  On  their 
slopes  are  seen,  here  and  there,  a  few  bleak  and  parched 
vines,  some  groves  of  wild  olive-trees,  wastes  covered  with 
hyssop,  chapels,  oratories,  and  mosques  in  ruins.  At  the 
bottom  of  the  valley  you  discover  a  bridge  of  a  single,  arch, 
thrown  across  the  channel  of  the  Brook  Kedron.  The 
stones  in  the  Jewish  cemetery  look  like  a  heap  of  rubbish  at 
the  foot  of  the  Mount  of  Offence,  below  the  Arab  village  of 
Siloane,  the  paltry  houses  of  which  are  scarcely  to  be  dis¬ 
tinguished  from  the  surrounding  sepulchres.  From  the 
stillness  of  Jerusalem,  whence  no  smoke  arises  and  no  noise 
proceeds, — from  the  solitude  of  these  hills,  where  no  living 
creature  is  to  be  seen, — from  the  ruinous  state  of  all  these 
tombs,  overthrown,  broken,  and  half-open,  you  would  ima¬ 
gine  that  the  last  trumpet  had  already  sounded,  and  that  the 
Valley  of  Jehoshaphat  was  about  to  render  up  its  dead. 

Amid  this  scene  of  desolation  three  monuments  arrest 
the  eyes  of  the  intelligent  pilgrim, — the  tombs  of  Zachariah, 
of  Absalom,  and  of  the  king  whose  name  still  distinguishes 
the  valley.  The  first-mentioned  of  these  is  a  square  mass 
of  rock,  hewn  down  into  form,  and  isolated  from  the  quarry 
out  of  which  it  is  cut  by  a  passage  of  twelve  or  fifteen  feet 
wide  on  three  of  its  sides  ;  the  fourth  or  western  front  being 
open  towards  the  valley  and  to  Mount  Moriah,  the  foot  of 
which  is  only  a  few  yards  distant.  This  huge  stone  is  eight 
paces  in  length  on  each  side,  and  about  twenty  feet  high  in 
the  front,  and  ten  feet  high  at  the  back ;  the  hill  on  which 
it  stands  having  a  steep  ascent.  It  has  four  semicolumns 
cut  out  of  the  same  rock  on  each  of  its  faces,  with  a  pilaster 
at  each  angle,  all  of  a  mixed  Ionic  order,  and  ornamented 
in  bad  taste.  The  architraves,  the  full  moulding,  and  the 
deep  overhanging  cornice  which  finishes  the  square,  are  all 
perfectly  after  the  Egyptian  manner  ;  and  the  whole  is  sur¬ 
mounted  by  a  pyramid,  the  sloping  sides  of  which  rise  from 
the  very  edges  of  the  square  below,  and  terminate  in  a 
finished  point. 

The  body  of  this  monument,  we  have  already  stated,  is 
one  solid  mass  of  rock,  as  well  as  its  semicolumns  on  each 
face  ;  but  the  surmounting  pyramid  appears  to  be  of  ma¬ 
sonry.  Its  sides,  however,  are  perfectly  smooth,  like  the 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM.  155 

coated  pyramids  of  Sahara  and  Dashour,  and  not  graduated 
by  stages  like  those  of  Djizeh  in  Lower  Egypt. 

Inconsiderable  in  size  and  paltry  in  its  ornaments,  this 
monument,  as  Mr.  Buckingham  observes,  is  eminently  cu¬ 
rious.  There  is  no  appearance  of  an  entrance  into  any  part 
of  it ;  so  that  it  seems,  if  a  tomb,  to  have  been  as  firmly 
closed  as  the  Egyptian  pyramids,  and,  perhaps,  for  the  same 
respect  for  the  repose  of  the  dead.  It  is  probable,  indeed, 
that  the  original  style  and  plan  of  the  building  are  derived 
from  the  country  of  the  Pharaohs ;  while  the  Grecian  col¬ 
umns  and  pilasters  may  be  the  work  of  a  much  later  period, 
when  the  Jews  had  learned  to  combine  with  the  massy  piles 
of  their  more  ancient  architecture  the  elegant  lightness 
which  distinguished  the  times  of  the  Seleucidae.* 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  is  the  tomb  of  Jehoshaphat, — a 
cavern  which  is  more  commonly  called  the  Grotto  of  the 
Disciples,  from  an  idea  that  they  went  frequently  thither  to 
be  taught  by  their  Divine  Master.  The  front  of  this  exca¬ 
vation  has  two  Doric  pillars  of  small  size,  but  of  just  pro¬ 
portions.  In  the  interior  are  three  chambers,  all  of  them 
rude  and  irregular  in  their  form,  in  one  of  which  were  seve¬ 
ral  gravestones,  removed,  we  may  suppose,  from  the  open 
ground  for  greater  security.  Like  all  the  rest,  they  were 
flat  slabs  of  an  oblong  shape,  from  three  to  six  inches  in 
thickness,  and  evidently  a  portion  of  the  limestone  rock 
which  composes  the  adjoining  hills. 

Opposite  to  this,  on  the  east,  is  the  reputed  tomb  of  Ab¬ 
salom,  resembling  nearly  in  the  size,  form,  and  decoration 
of  its  square  base  that  of  Zachariah  already  described,  ex¬ 
cept  that  it  is  sculptured  with  the  metopes  and  triglyphs  of 
the  Doric  order.  This  is  surmounted  by  a  sharp  conical 
dome,  having  large  mouldings  running  round  its  base,  and 
on  the  summit  something  like  an  imitation  of  flame.  There 
is  here  again  so  strange  a  mixture  of  style  and  ornament, 
that  one  knows  not  to  what  age  to  attribute  the  monument 
as  a  whole.  The  square  mass  below  is  solid,  and  the  Ionic 
columns  which  are  seen  on  each  of  its  faces  are  half-indented 
in  the  rock  itself.  The  dome  is  of  masonry,  and  on  the 
eastern  side  there  is  a  square  aperture  in  it.  Generally 
speaking,  the  sight  of  this  monument  rather  confirms  the 

*  Travels  in  Palestine,  vol.  i.  p.  297. 


156  DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

idea  suggested  by  the  tomb  of  Zachariah,  that  the  hewn 
mass  of  solid  rock,  the  surmounting  pyramid  and  dome  of 
masonry,  and  the  sculptured  frieze  and  Ionic  columns 
wrought  on  the  faces  of  the  square  below  were  works  of 
different  periods ;  being  probably  ancient  sepulchres,  the 
primitive  character  of  which  had  been  changed  by  the  subse¬ 
quent  addition  of  foreign  ornaments.  There  is,  besides, 
every  reason  to  believe  that  this  monument,  represented 
below,  really  occupies  the  site  of  the  one  which  was  set  up 
by  him  whose  name  it  bears.  “Now  Absalom  in  his  life¬ 
time  had  reared  up  for  himself  a  pillar,  which  is  in  the 
King’s  Dale  :  for  he  said,  I  have  no  son  to  keep  my  name 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


157 


in  remembrance  ;  and  he  called  the  pillar  after  his  own 
name :  and  it  is  called  unto  this  day  Absalom’s  Place.” * 

Chateaubriand  is  of  opinion,  that  except  the  Pool  of  I3e- 
thesda  at  Jerusalem,  we  have  no  remains  of  the  primitive 
architecture  of  its  inhabitants.  This  reservoir,  a  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  long  and  forty  broad,  is  still  to  be  seen  near 
St.  Stephen’s  Gate,  where  it  bounded  the  Temple  on  the 
north.  The  sides  are  walled  by  means  of  large  stones  joined 
together  by  iron  cramps,  and  covered  with  flints  imbedded 
in  a  substance  resembling  plaster.  Here  the  lambs  destined 
for  sacrifice  were  washed  ;  and  it  was  on  the  brink  of  this 
pool  that  Christ  said  to  the  paralytic  man,  “  Arise,  take  up 
thy  bed  and  walk.”  It  receives  a  melancholy  interest  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  probably  the  last  remnant  of  Jerusalem 
as  it  appeared  in  the  days  of  Solomon  and  of  his  immediate 
successors. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  tombs  in  the  Valley  of  Je- 
hoshaphat  display  an  alliance  of  Egyptian  and  Grecian 
taste ;  and,  in  naturalizing  in  their  capital  the  architecture 
of  Memphis  and  of  Athens,  it  is  equally  certain  that  the 
Jews  mixed  with  it  the  forms  of  their  own  peculiar  style. 
From  this  combination  resulted  a  heterogeneous  kind  of 
structure,  forming,  as  it  were,  the  link  between  the  Pyramids 
and  the  Parthenon, — monuments  in  which  you  discover  a 
sombre,  yet  bold  and  elevated  genius,  associated  with  a 
pleasing  and  cultivated  imagination. 

Our  limits  forbid  us  to  follow  the  footsteps  of  the  pilgrim 
in  his  minute  survey  of  the  “  Sepulchres  of  the  Kings,” 
which,  it  is  acknowledged,  cannot  be  traced  back  to  a  re¬ 
moter  era  than  that  of  the  Grecian  dynasty  at  Antioch  and 
Damascus.  There  are  several  other  tombs  and  grottoes,  to 
which  tradition  has  attached  venerable  names,  and  even 
consecrated  them  as  the  scene  of  important  events  ;  but  as 
they  are  not  remarkable  on  any  other  account,  we  shall  not 
extend  to  an  undue  length  our  description  of  the  holy  places 
under  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 

We  shall  simply  remark,  that  a  difference  of  opinion  ex¬ 
ists  among  modern  travellers  in  regard  to  the  extent  of  the 
ancient  city,  the  ground  which  it  actually  covered,  the 
changes  that  it  has  since  undergone  in  point  of  locality,  and 

*  2  Samuel  xviii  18,  Travels  in  Palestine,  vol.  i,  p.  302, 

O 


158 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


hence,  m  respect  to  the  position  of  some  of  the  more  promi¬ 
nent  objects  which  attract  the  attention  of  the  inquisitive 
tourist  in  our  own  days.  Dr.  Clarke  has  distinguished  him¬ 
self  by  some  bold  speculations  on  this  head,  the  effect  of 
which  is  to  derange  all  the  received  notions  relative  to  the 
scene  of  the  crucifixion  and  the  place  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
It  will  indeed  be  readily  granted,  that  it  is  a  matter  of  very 
small  importance  to  the  faith  of  a  Christian  to  determine 
whether  the  decease  which  was  accomplished  at  Jerusalem 
took  place  on  the  north-western  or  the  south-eastern  ex¬ 
tremity  of  that  metropolis.  But  as  the  history  and  tradition 
of  many  ages  have  fixed  the  spot  where  the  cross  was 
erected  and  where  the  new  tomb  in  the  rock  had  its  situa¬ 
tion,  it  is  requisite  that  the  arguments  of  a  writer  who  him¬ 
self  pays  so  little  respect  to  authority  should  be  examined 
with  attention.  In  this  case,  it  is  obvious,  an  inspection 
of  the  ground  candidly  and  distinctly  reported  is  of  much 
more  weight  than  the  most  ingenious  reasoning  if  destitute 
of  facts  ;  on  which  account,  we  are  happy  to  have  it  in  our 
power  to  refer  to  the  journal  of  a  learned  gentleman  hitherto 
unpublished,  who  about  three  years  ago  travelled  in  Syria 
and  Palestine. 

“  We  passed  by  the  place  of  St.  Stephen’s  martyrdom 
down  into  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat.  This  valley,  inde¬ 
pendently  of  associations,  is  highly  picturesque.  It  is  deep 
and  narrow  ;  the  lower  part  is  green  with  scattered  olives. 
The  slope  up  towards  the  city  is  also  smooth  and  green,  and 
crowned  by  the  towers  and  battlements.  On  ascending  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  which  we  did  towards  the  south,  we  had 
a  splendid  view  of  Jerusalem.  The  chief  ornaments  are  the 
two  domes  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  the  mosque  of  Omar,  and 
another  large  mosque  with  a  smaller  dome  ;  but  the  white 
houses  make  a  good  show,  and  the  walls  are  picturesque. 
On  looking  at  Jerusalem  from  this  place,  the  great  features 
seemed  to  me  to  agree  entirely  with  the  established  maps, 
and  Dr.  Clarke’s  theory  appeared  quite  untenable.  The 
only  difficulty  is,  that  there  is  no  valley  which  rwis  zip  all 
the  way  so  as  to  divide  entirely  Mount  Zion  from  Mount 
Moriah.  A  ravine  does  run  far  enough  to  cut  off  the  Tem¬ 
ple,  but  no  more.  The  extent  of  this  difficulty  must  depend 
on  the  description  left  us  of  the  Tyropaemn  and  Millo. 
Was  there  a  deep  valley  such  as  time  and  change  might  not 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


159 


have  obliterated  1  The  people  of  the  convent  gave  the 
name  of  the  Mount  of  Offence  to  a  low  hill  on  the  south  nf 
the  Mount  of  Olives ;  but  Clarke  seems  to  think  that  the 
real  Mount  of  Offence  is  that  divided  by  Jehinnom  from  Zion, 
and  called  by  our  guide  Monte  de  Mai  Consiglio.  We 
visited  the  Mohammedan  chapel  over  the  place  of  the  Ascen¬ 
sion,  and  saw  the  alleged  print  of  Christ’s  foot.  We  next 
went  to  the  place  called  Viri  Galilaei  (ye  men  of  Galilee), 
and,  after  looking  in  vain  for  Dr.  Clarke’s  pagan  remains, 
descended  towards  the  Cave  of  the  Prophets.  We  saw  the 
well  where  Nehemiah  found  the  fire  of  the  altar,  and  then 
went  up  the  Valley  of  Hinnom ;  first  to  the  tomb  called  the 
Crypt  of  the  Apostles,  close  to  the  Aceldama,  or  Field  of 
Blood.  We  saw  many  other  grottoes;  one  had  t>js  ayiag 
Eiwv  inscribed  upon  it,  as  had  another  much  farther  up. 
Near  this  last  was  that  which  Clarke  maintained  to  be  the 
Holy  Sepulchre.  We  saw  one  which  would  do  very  well 
for  it ;  but  so  would  many  others.  This  one  was  a  cave, 
with  a  place  for  a  body  cut  out  in  the  back  part  of  it,  but 
raised  like  a  stone  trough,  not  sunk  in  the  floor.  There  is, 
of  course,  not  a  shadow  of  reason  for  thinking  Clarke’s  cave 
to  be  the  real  one,  and  very  little  that  I  can  see  for  doubting 
that  the  nominal  Holy  Sepulchre  is  so  in  fact,  or,  rather, 
that  it  is  on  the  site  of  the  real  one,  which  must  have  been 
destroyed  when  Adrian  erected  his  temple  to  Venus  on  the 
spot.  From  these  caves  we  went  by  the  Pool  of  Bathsheba 
to  the  Bethlehem  Gate,  and  so  along  the  west  side  of  the 
town  to  the  Tombs  of  the  Judges  and  Kings,  which  lie  north 
or  north-west  of  the  city.  I  observed  large  foundations  of 
ancient  walls  and  heaps  of  rubbish  west  of  the  modern 
town,  where  Clarke  seems  to  assume  that  there  was  an¬ 
ciently  no  part  of  the  city.  There  and  on  the  north  I  also 
observed  wells  opening  into  large  covered  reservoirs  for 
water.  We  entered  only  one  of  the  Tombs  of  the  Judges, 
the  rest  being  insignificant.  That  one  was  large,  with  a 
pediment  which  had  dentiles  and  other  Greek  ornaments. 
Inside  there  were  at  least  three  chambers,  surrounded  by 
receptacles  for  bodies.  In  returning  we  went  to  the  Tombs 
of  the  Kings,  which,  like  the  others,  are  cut  out  of  the  rock, 
and,  like  them  too,  have  Grecian  ornaments.  There  is  one 
large  cave  ;  the  front  has  a  handsome  entablature,  the  upper 
part  ornamented  with  alternate  circular  garlands,  bunches 


160 


DESCRIPTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 


of  grapes,  and  an  ornament  of  acanthus  leaves  ;  the  lower 
with  a  rich  band  of  foliage  disposed  with  much  elegance.”* 

Hence,  it  appears  that  the  weight  of  evidence  preponde¬ 
rates  decidedly  in  favour  of  the  common  opinions  in  regard 
to  the  form  of  the  ancient  city  and  the  places  which  are 
usually  denominated  holy.  Why,  then,  should  any  one 
attempt  to  disturb  the  belief  or  acquiescence  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  world  on  a  subject  concerning  which  all  nations  have 
hitherto  found  reason  to  agree  1  The  members  of  the  primi¬ 
tive  church  had  better  means  than  we  have  of  being  fully  in¬ 
formed  respecting  the  scenes  of  the  evangelical  history  ;  and 
it  is  manifest,  that  amid  all  the  changes  which  ensued  in 
Jerusalem,  either  from  conquest  or  superstition,  nothing 
was  more  unlikely  than  that  the  faithful  should  forget  the 
sacred  spot  where  their  redemption  was  completed,  or  that 
they  should  consent  to  transfer  their  veneration  to  any 
other,  t 

*  See  Tour  of  the  Holy  Land,  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Morehead,  D.D. ;  in 
the  Appendix  to  which  are  extracts  from  this  anonymous  manuscript. 

t  “  Having  so  often  mentioned  Clarke,  I  must  say,  that  although  an 
animated  and  interesting  writer,  and  not  incorrect  in  his  descriptions,  he 
is  more  deficient  in  judgment  than  any  traveller  I  am  acquainted  with ; 
and  I  do  not  recollect  an  instance,  either  here  or  in  Egypt,  where  he  has 
attempted  to  speculate,  without  falling  into  some  very  decided  error.  I 
mention  this  the  more,  as  his  enthusiasm  and  conviction  of  the  truth  of 
his  own  theories  led  me  formerly  to  place  great  faith  in  his  authority.” — 
Anonymous  Journal. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY,  ETC.  1G1 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Description  of  the  Country  South  and  East  of  Jerusalem. 

Garden  of  Gethsemane — Tomb  of  Virgin  Mary — Grottoes  on  Mount  of 
Olives — View  of  the  City — Extent  and  Boundaries — View  of  Bethany 
and  Dead  Sea — Bethlehem — Convent— Church  of  the  Nativity  de¬ 
scribed — Paintings — Music — Population  of  Bethlehem — Fools  of  Solo¬ 
mon — Dwelling  of  Simon  the  Leper — Of  Mary  Magdalene — Tower  of 
Simeon — Tomb  of  Rachel — Convent  of  John — Fine  Church— Tekoa — 
Bethulia — Hebron — Sepulchre  of  Patriarchs — Albaid  —  Kerek  —  Ex¬ 
tremity  of  Dead  Sea — Discoveries  of  Bankes,  Legh,  and  Irby  and  Man¬ 
gles — Convent  of  St.  Saba — Valley  of  Jordan — Mountains— Descrip¬ 
tion  of  Lake  Asphaltites — Remains  of  ancient  Cities  in  its  Basin — Qual¬ 
ity  of  its  Waters — Apples  of  Sodom— Tacitus,  Seetzen,  Hasselquist, 
Chateaubriand — Width  of  River  Jordan — Jericho— Village  of  Rihhali 
— Balsam — Fountain  of  Elisha — Mount  of  Temptation — Place  of 
Blood — Anecdote  of  Sir  F.  Henniker — Fountain  of  the  Apostles — Re¬ 
turn  to  Jerusalem — Markets — Costume — Science — Arts — Language — 
Jews — Present  Condition  of  that  People. 

In  proceeding  from  Jerusalem  towards  Bethany,  the 
traveller  skirts  the  Mount  of  Olives ;  or,  if  he  wishes  to 
enjoy  the  magnificent  view  which  it  presents,  both  of  the 
city  and  of  the  extensive  tract  watered  by  the  Jordan,  he 
ascends  its  heights,  and  at  the  same  time  inspects  the 
remains  of  sacred  architecture  still  to  be  seen  on  its  summit. 
As  he  passes  from  the  eastern  gate,  the  Garden  of  Gethsem¬ 
ane  meets  his  eyes,  as  well  as  the  tomb  which  bears  the 
name  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  This  has  a  building  over  it 
with  a  pretty  front,  although  the  Grecian  ornaments  sculp¬ 
tured  in  marble  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  pointed  arch 
at  the  entrance.  It  is  approached  by  a  paved  court,  now 
a  raised  way,  leading  from  the  Mount  of  Olives  over  the 
Brook  Kedron.  The  descent  into  it  is  formed  by  a  hand¬ 
some  flight  of  steps  composed  of  marble,  being  about  fifty 
in  number  and  of  a  noble  breadth.  About  midway  down 
are  two  arched  recesses  in  the  sides,  said  to  contain  the 
ashes  of  St.  Anne,  the  mother  of  Mary,  and  of  Joseph  her 
husband.  Reaching  the  bottom  of  the  stairs,  the  visiter  is 
shown  the  tomb  of  the  holy  Virgin  herself,  which  is  in  the 
form  of  »  simple  bench  coated  with  marble.  Here  the 

O  2 


162 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


Greeks  and  Armenians  say  mass  by  turns,  and  near  it  there 
is  an  humble  altar  for  the  Syrian  Christians ;  while  oppo¬ 
site  to  it  is  one  for  the  Copts,  consisting  of  earth,  and  en¬ 
tirely  destitute  of  lamps,  pictures,  covering,  and  every 
other  species  of  ornament.  Chateaubriand  tells  us  that 
the  Turks  had  a  portion  of  this  grotto  :  Buckingham  asserts 
that  they  have  no  right  to  enter  it,  nor  could  he  “  learn 
from  the  keepers  of  the  place  that  they  ever  had  whereas 
the  author  of  the  Anonymous  Journal,  from  which  we  have 
already  quoted,  states  distinctly  that  “  there  is  a  place 
reserved  for  the  Mussulmans  to  pray,  which  at  the  Virgin’s 
Tomb  one  would  not  expect  to  be  much  in  request.”  So 
much  for  the  clashing  of  authorities  on  the  part  of  writers 
who  could  have  no  wish  to  deceive  ! 

There  are  various  other  grottoes  on  the  acclivity  of  the 
hill,  meant,  to  keep  alive  the  remembrance  of  certain  occur¬ 
rences  which  are  either  mentioned  in  the  gospel,  or  have 
been  transmitted  to  the  present  age  by  oral  tradition. 
Among  these  is  one  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  scene  of 
the  agony  and  the  bloody  sweat ;  a  second,  that  marks 
the  place  where  St.  Peter  and  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee  fell 
asleep  when  their  Master  retired  to  pray  ;  and  a  third,  indi¬ 
cating  the  spot  whereon  Judas  betrayed  the  Son  of  Man 
with  a  kiss.  Here  also  is  pointed  out  the  rock  from  which 
our  Saviour  predicted  the  sack  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
destruction  of  the  Temple, — that  dreadful  visitation,  of 
which  the  traces  are  still  most  visible  both  within  and 
around  the  walls.  The  curious  pilgrim  is  further  edified 
by  the  sight  of  a  cavern  where  the  apostles  were  taught  the 
Lord’s  Prayer  ;  and  of  another  where  the  same  individuals 
at  a  later  period  met  together  to  compose  their  Creed.  On 
the  principal  top  of  the  Mount  of  Olives, — for  the  elevated 
ground  presents  three  separate  summits, — are  a  mosque  and 
the  remains  of  a  church.  The  former  is  distinguished  by  a 
lofty  minaret  which  commands  an  extensive  prospect  ;  but 
the  latter  is  esteemed  more  remarkable,  as  containing  the 
piece  of  rock  imprinted  with  the  mark  of  our  Saviour’s  foot 
while  in  the  act  of  ascension. 

But  the  view  of  the  venerable  metropolis  itself,  which 
stretches  out  its  lanes  and  sacred  enclosures  under  the  eye 
of  the  traveller,  is  still  more  interesting  than  the  recapitula¬ 
tion  of  ambiguous  relics.  It  occupies  an  irregular  square 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


1G3 


of  about  two  miles  and  a  half  in  circumference.  Eusebius 
gave  a  measurement  of  twenty-seven  stadia,  amounting  to 
nearly  a  mile  more  than  its  present  dimensions  ;  a  differ¬ 
ence  which  can  easily  be  explained,  by  adverting  to  the 
alterations  made  on  the  line  of  fortifications  by  the  Sara¬ 
cens  and  Turks,  especially  on  the  north-west  and  western 
extremities  of  the  town.  Its  shortest  apparent  side  is  that 
which  faces  the  east,  and  in  this  is  the  supposed  gate  of 
the  ancient  Temple,  shut  up  by  the  Mussulmans  from  a 
superstitious  motive,  and  the  small  projecting  stone  on 
which  their  prophet  is  to  sit  when  he  shall  judge  the  world 
assembled  in  the  vale  below.  The  southern  side  is  exceed¬ 
ingly  irregular,  taking  quite  a  zigzag  direction  ;  the  south¬ 
western  entrance  being  terminated  by  a  mosque  built  over 
the  supposed  sepulchre  of  David,  on  the  elevation  of  Mount 
Zion.  The  form  and  exact  direction  of  the  western  and 
northern  walls  are  not  distinctly  seen  from  the  position  now 
assumed ;  but  every  part  of  them  appears  to  be  a  modern 
work,  and  executed  at  the  same  time.  They  are  flanked  at 
certain  distances  by  square  towers,  and  have  battlements  all 
along  their  summits,  with  loopholes  for  arrows  or  musketry 
close  to  the  top.  Their  height  is  about  fifty  feet,  but  they 
are  not  surrounded  by  a  ditch.  The  northern  wall  runs  over 
ground  which  declines  slightly  outward ;  the  eastern  wall 
passes  straight  along  the  brow  of  Mount  Moriah,  with  the 
deep  valley  of  Jehoshaphat  below  ;  the  southern  wall  crosses 
Mount  Zion,  with  the  vale  of  Hinnom  at  its  feet ;  and  the 
western  wall  is  carried  over  a  more  uniform  level,  near  the 
summit  of  the  bare  hills  which  terminate  at  the  Jaffa  gate.* 

*  Buckingham,  vol.  i.  p.  316. — The  following  words,  put  into  the 
mouth  of  Titus  by  the  eloquent  author  of  the  “  Fall  of  Jerusalem,”  will 
be  read  with  interest  in  connexion  with  the  view  just  given.  The  son 
of  Vespasian  stands  on  the  Mount  of  Olives : — 

“  It  must  be — 

And  yet  it  moves  me,  Romans !  it  confounds 
The  counsels  of  my  firm  philosophy, 

That  Ruin’s  merciless  ploughshare  must  pass  o’er 
And  barren  salt  be  sown  on  yon  proud  city. 

As  on  our  olive-crowned  hill  we  stand, 

Where  Kedron  at  our  feet  its  scanty  waters 
Distils  from  stone  to  stone  with  gentle  motion, 

As  through  a  valley  sacred  to  sweet  Peace. 

How  boldly  doth  it  front  us  !  how  majesticaliy  ! 

Like  a  luxurious  vineyard,  the  hilt-side 


164 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


Turning  towards  the  east,  the  traveller  sees  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill  the  little  village  of  Bethany,  so  often  mentioned 
in  the  history  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  personal  followers  ; 
and  at  a  greater  distance,  a  little  more  on  the  left,  he  beholds 
the  magnificent  scenery  of  the  Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea. 

There  are  two  roads  from  Jerusalem  to  Bethany  ;  the  one 
passing  over  the  Mount  of  Olives  ;  the  other,  the  shorter 
and  easier,  winding  round  the  eastern  side  of  it.  This 
village  is  now  both  small  and  poor,  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil  around  it  being  very  much  neglected  by  the  indolent 
Arabs  into  whose  hands  it  has  fallen.  Here  are  shown  the 
ruins  of  a  house,  said  to  have  belonged  to  Lazarus  whom 
our  Saviour  raised  from  the  dead  ;  and,  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood,  the  faithful  pilgrim  is  invited  to  devotion 
in  a  grotto,  which  is  represented  as  the  actual  tomb  wherein 


Is  lmng  with  marble  fabrics,  line  on  line, 

Terrace  o’er  terrace,  nearer  still,  and  nearer 

To  the  blue  heavens.  Here  bright  and  sumptuous  palaces, 

With  cool  and  verdant  gardens  interspersed  ; 

Here  towers  of  war  that  frown  in  massy  strength. 

While  over  all  hangs  the  rich  purple  eve, 

As  conscious  of  its  being  her  last  farewell 
Of  light  and  glory  to  that  fated  city. 

And  as  our  clouds  of  battle,  dust,  and  smoke 
Are  melted  into  air,  behold  the  Temple, 

In  undisturbed  and  lone  serenity, 

Finding  itself  a  solemn  sanctuary 
In  the  profound  of  heaven  !  It  stands  before  us 
A  mount  of  snow  fretted  with  golden  pinnacles  1 
The  very  sun,  as  though  he  worshipped  there, 
lungers  upon  the  gilded  cedar  roofs  ; 

And  down  the  long  and  branching  porticoes, 

On  every  flowery  sculptured  capital 
Glitters  the  homage  of  his  parting  beams. 

By  Hercules  !  the  sight  might  almost  win 
The  offended  majesty  of  Rome  to  mercy.” 

Old  Sandys,  a  simple  and  amusing  writer,  describes  Jerusalem  as 
follows : — “  This  citie,  once  sacred  and  glorious,  elected  by  God  for  his 
seate,  and  seated  in  the  midst  of  nations, — like  a  diadem  crowning  the 
head  of  the  mountaines, — the  theatre  of  mysteries  and  miracles, — was 
founded  by  Melchisedek  (who  is  said  to  be  the  son  of  Noah,  and  that 
not  unprobably)  about  the  year  of  the  world  2023,  and  called  Salem  (by 
the  Gentiles  Solyma),  which  signifyeth  Peace :  who  reigned  here  fifty 
years.— This  citie  is  seated  on  a  rockie  mountaine ;  every  way  to  be 
ascended  (except  a  little  on  the  north)  with  steep  ascents  and  deep  valleys 
naturally  fortified ;  for  the  most  part  environed  with  other  not  far  removed 
mountaines,  as  if  placed  in  the  midst  ofan  amphitheater.” — Lib.  iii.  p.  154. 


_ _ _ 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


167 


the  miracle  was  performed.  The  dwellings  of  Simon  the 
Leper,  of  Mary  Magdalene,  and  of  Martha  are  pointed 
out  by  the  Mussulmans,  who  traffic  on  the  credulity  of 
ignorant  Christians.  Nay,  they  undertake  to  identify  the 
spot  where  the  barren  fig-tree  withered  under  the  curse, 
and  the  place  where  Judas  put  an  end  to  his  life,  oppressed 
by  a  more  dreadful  malediction. 

There  is  no  traveller  of  any  nation,  whatever  may  be 
his  creed  or  his  impressions  in  regard  to  the  gospel,  who 
does  not  make  the  usual  journey  from  the  Jewish  capital 
to  Bethlehem  the  place  of  our  Lord’s  nativity.  The  road, 
as  we  find  related,  passes  over  ground  extremely  rocky  and 
barren,  diversified  only  by  some  cultivated  patches  bearing 
a  scanty  crop  of  grain,  and  by  banks  of  wild-flowers  which 
grow  in  great  profusion.  On  the  way  the  practised  guide 
points  out  the  ruined  tower  of  Simeon,  who  upon  beholding 
the  infant  Messiah  expressed  his  readiness  to  leave  this 
world ;  the  Monastery  of  Elias,  now  in  possession  of  the 
Greeks  ;  and  the  tomb  of  Rachel,  rising  in  a  rounded  top 
like  the  whitened  sepulchre  of  an  Arab  sheik.  “  This,” 
says  the  honest  Maundrell,  “  may  probably  be  the  true 
place  of  her  interment  ;  but  the  present  sepulchral  monu¬ 
ment  can  be  none  of  that  which  Jacob  erected,  for  it  appears 
plainly  to  be  a  modern  and  Turkish  structure.”  Farther  on 
is  the  well  of  which  David  longed  to  drink,  and  of  which  his 
mighty  men,  at  the  risk  of  their  lives,  procured  him  a  sup¬ 
ply  ;  and  here  opens  to  view,  in  a  great  valley,  that  most 
interesting  of  all  pastoral  scenes,  where  the  angel  of  the 
Omnipotent  appeared  by  night  to  the  shepherds,  to  announce 
the  glad  tidings  that  Christ  was  born  in  Bethlehem.* 

As  there  was  another  town  of  the  same  name  in  the  tribe 

*  “Bethlehem  soon  after  came  in  sight,— a  fine  village,  surrounded 
with  gardens  of  fig-trees  and  olives.  There  is  a  deep  valley  below,  ami 
half-way  down  on  the  top  of  a  hill  is  a  green  plain,  the  only  one  we 
have  seen  in  Judea: — I  could  fancy  Boaz’s  field  forming  part  of  it.  The 
convent  is  a  very  remarkable  building,  and  well  worth  seeing.  Without, 
it  is  a  perfect  fortress,  with  heavy  buttresses  and  small  grated  windows; 
on  entering,  we  immediately  came  to  a  magnificent  church,  with  a  double 
row  of  ten  Corinthian  pillars  of  marble  on  each  side, — forty  pillars  in 
all.  On  the  arched  roof  are  the  remains  of  Mosaic,  of  the  Empress 
Helena’s  time.  One  part  was  very  distinct :  it  represented  a  city  with 
temples,  &e.,  and  over  it  was  written  in  Greek  characters,  Laodicea .” — 
Anonymous  Journal. 


168  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

of  Zebulon,  the  Bethlehem  that  we  now  approach  was 
usually  distinguished  by  the  addition  of  Ephrata,  or  by  a 
reference  to  the  district  in  which  it  was  situated.  The 
convent  which  marks  the  place  of  the  Redeemer’s  birth  was 
built  by  Helena,  after  removing  the  idolatrous  structure  said 
to  have  been  erected  by  Adrian,  from  a  feeling  of  contempt 
or  jealousy  towards  the  Christians.  At  present  it  is  di¬ 
vided  among  the  monks  of  the  Greek,  Roman,  and  Arme¬ 
nian  sects,  who  have  assigned  to  them  separate  portions,  as 
well  for  lodging  as  for  places  of  worship  ;  though,  on  cer¬ 
tain  days,  they  may  all  celebrate  the  rites  of  their  common 
faith  on  altars  which  none  of  them  have  been  hitherto  al¬ 
lowed  to  appropriate.  There  are  two  churches,  an  upper 
and  a  lower,  under  the  same  roof.  The  former  contains 
nothing  remarkable,  if  we  except  a  star  inlaid  in  the  floor, 
immediately  under  the  spot  in  the  heavens  where  the  su¬ 
pernatural  sign  became  visible  to  the  wise  men,  and,  like 
it,  directly  above  the  place  of  the  Nativity  in  the  church 
below. 

This  last  is  an  excavation  in  the  rock,  elegantly  fitted  up 
and  floored  with  marble,  and  to  which  there  is  a  descent 
by  a  flight  of  steps  through  a  long  narrow  passage.  Here 
are  shown  a  great  number  of  tombs,  and  among  them  one 
in  which  were  said  to  be  buried  all  the  babes  of  Bethlehem 
murdered  by  the  barbarous  Herod.  From  hence  the  pilgrim 
is  conducted  into  a  handsome  chapel,  of  which  the  floors 
and  walls  are  composed  of  beautiful  marble,  having  on  each 
side  five  oratories,  or  recesses  for  prayer,  corresponding  to 
the  ten  stalls  supposed  to  have  been  in  the  stable  wherein 
our  blessed  Saviour  was  born.  This  sacred  crypt  is  irregu¬ 
lar  in  shape,  because  it  occupies  the  site  of  the  stable  and 
the  manger.  It  is  thirty-seven  feet  six  inches  long,  eleven 
feet  three  inches  broad,  and  nine  feet  in  height.  As  it  re¬ 
ceives  no  light  from  without,  it  is  illumined  by  thirty-two 
lamps,  sent  by  different  princes  of  Christendom ;  the  other 
embellishments  are  ascribed  to  the  munificent  Helena.  At 
the  farther  extremity  of  this  small  church  there  is  an  altar 
placed  in  an  arcade,  and  hollowed  out  below  in  the  form  of 
an  arch,  to  embrace  the  sacred  spot  where  Emmanuel,  hav¬ 
ing  laid  aside  his  glory,  first  appeared  in  the  garb  of  human 
nature.  A  circle  in  the  floor,  composed  of  marble  and  jus- 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


IG9 


per,  surrounded  with  silver,  and  having  rays  like  those  with 
which  the  sun  is  represented,  marks  the  precise  situation 
wherein  that  stupendous  event  was  realized.  An  inscrip¬ 
tion,  denoting  that  “  here  Jesus  Christ  was  born  of  the  Vir¬ 
gin  Mary,”  meets  the  eye  of  the  faithful  worshipper. 

Hie  de  Virgiue  Maria  Jesus  Cliristus  natus  est. 

Adjoining  the  Altar  of  the  Nativity  is  the  Manger  in 
which  the  Infant  Messiah  was  laid.  It  is  also  formed  of 
marble,  and  is  raised  about  eighteen  inches  above  the  floor, 
bearing  a  resemblance  to  the  humble  bed  which  alone  the 

P 


no 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


furniture  of  a  stable  could  supply.  Before  it  is  the  Altar  of 
the  Wise  Men, — a  memorial  of  their  adoration  and  praise 
at  the  moment  when  they  saw  the  young  child  and  Mary 
his  mother. 

This  edifice,  says  the  Yicomte  de  Chateaubriand,  is  cer¬ 
tainly  of  high  antiquity,  and,  often  destroyed  and  as  often 
repaired,  it  still  retains  marks  of  its  Grecian  origin.  It  is 
built  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  the  nave  being  adorned  with 
forty-eight  columns  of  the  Corinthian  order  in  four  rows, 
which  are  at  least  two  feet  six  inches  in  diameter  at  the  base, 
and  eighteen  feet  high,  includingThe  base  and  capital.  As 
the  roof  of  the  nave  is  wanting,  these  pillars  support  no¬ 
thing  but  a  frieze  of  wood,  which  occupies  the  place  of  the 
architrave  and  of  the  whole  entablature.  The  windows  are 
large,  and  were  formerly  adorned  with  Mosaic  paintings  and 
passages  from  the  Bible  in  Greek  and  Latin  characters,  the 
traces  of  which  are  still  visible. 

The  top  of  the  church  affords  a  fine  prospect  into  the  sur¬ 
rounding  country,  extending  to  Tekoa  on  the  south  and  En- 
gedi  on  the  east.  In  the  latter  place  is  the  grotto  where 
David,  a  native  of  Bethlehem,  cut  off  the  skirt  of  Saul’s 
garment.  There  is  also  the  convent  of  Elias,  in  which  is 
said  to  be  a  large  stone  still  retaining  an  impression  of  his 
body.  Between  this  point  and  Jerusalem  Mr.  Buckingham 
was  struck  with  the  appearance  of  several  small  detached 
towers  of  a  square  form  built  in  the  midst  of  vine-lands. 
These,  he  learned,  were  for  the  accommodation  of  watch¬ 
men  appointed  to  guard  the  produce  from  thieves  and  wild 
beasts  ;  hence  explaining  a  passage  which  occurs  in  the 
Gospel  according  to  St.  Mark  : — “A  certain  man  planted  a 
vineyard,  and  set  an  hedge  about  it,  and  digged  a  place  for 
the  wine-fat,  and  built  a  tower ,  and  let  it  out  to  husband¬ 
men.”* 

It  is  painful  to  find  that  the  same  animosity  which  attends 
the  claims  of  the  several  sects  of  Christians  at  Jerusalem 
for  the  possession  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  disgraces  their 
contentions  at  Bethlehem  for  the  Grotto  of  the  Nativity.  A 
few  years  ago,  during  the  celebration  of  the  Christmas  fes¬ 
tival,  at  which  Mr.  Bankes  was  present,  a  battle  took  place, 
in  which  some  of  the  combatants  were  wounded,  and  others 


*  Richardson,  Buckingham,  Maundrell. 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


171 


severely  beaten  ;  and  in  the  preceding  season  the  privilege 
of  saying  mass  at  the  altar  on  that  particular  day  had  been 
fought  for  at  the  door  of  the  sanctuary  itself  with  drawn 
swords. 

Dr.  Clarke,  whose  skepticism  in  regard  to  the  holy  places 
in  the  capital  has  been  already  mentioned,  grants  that  the 
tradition  respecting  the  Cave  of  the  Nativity  is  so  well  au¬ 
thenticated  as  hardly  to  admit  of  dispute.  Having  been 
always  held  in  veneration,  the  oratory  established  there  by 
the  first  Christians  attracted  the  notice  and  indignation  of 
the  heathens  so  early  as  the  time  of  Adrian,  who,  as  is  else¬ 
where  stated,  ordered  it  to  be  demolished,  and  the  place  to 
be  set  apart  for  the  rites  of  Adonis.  This  happened  in  the 
second  century,  and  at  a  period  in  the  emperor’s  life  when 
the  Grotto  of  the  Nativity  was  as  well  known  in  Bethlehem 
as  the  circumstance  to  which  it  owed  its  celebrity.  In  the 
fourth  age,  accordingly,  we  find  this  fact  appealed  to  by  St. 
Jerome  as  an  indisputable  testimony  by  which  the  cave  itself 
had  been  identified.  Upon  this  subject  there  does  not  seem 
to  be  the  slightest  ground  for  skepticism  ;  and  the  evidence 
afforded  by  such  a  writer  will  be  deemed  sufficient  for  be¬ 
lieving  that  the  monastery  erected  over  the  spot,  and  where 
he  himself  resided,  does  at  this  day  point  out  the  place  of 
our  Saviour’s  birth.* 

Nothing,  observes  a  late  traveller,  can  be  more  pleasing, 
or  better  calculated  to  excite  sentiments  of  devotion,  than 
this  subterranean  church.  It  is  adorned  with  pictures  of 
the  Italian  and  Spanish  schools,  representing  the  mysteries 
peculiar  to  the  place, — the  Virgin  and  Child,  after  Raphael ; 
the  Annunciation ;  the  Adoration  of  the  Wise  Men ;  the 
Coming  of  the  Shepherds  ;  and  all  those  miracles  of  min¬ 
gled  grandeur  and  innocence.  The  usual  ornaments  of  the 
manger  are  of  blue  satin,  embroidered  with  silver.  Incense 
is  continually  smoking  before  the  cradle  of  the  Saviour.  “  I 
have  heard  an  organ,  touched  by  no  ordinary  hand,  playing 
during  mass  the  sweetest  and  most  tender  tunes  of  the  best 
Italian  composers.  These  concerts  charm  the  Christian 
Arab,  who,  leaving  his  camels  to  feed,  repairs,  like  the  shep- 

*  Bethleem  nunc  nostram,  et  augustissimum  urbis  locum  dc  quo 
Psalmista  canit  (Ps.  lxxxiv.  12).  Veritas  de  terra  orta  est,  lucus  inurn- 
brabat  Thamus,  id  est,  Adonidis ;  et  in  specu  ubi  quondam  Christus  par- 
vulus  vagiit,  Veneris  Amasias  plangebatur. — Epis.  ad  Paul. 


172 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


herds  of  old,  to  Bethlehem,  to  adore  the  King  of  Kings  in 
his  manger.  I  have  seen  this  inhabitant  of  the  desert 
communicate  at  the  altar  of  the  Magi  with  a  fervour,  a  piety, 
a  devotion  unknown  amonjr  the  Christians  of  the  West.” 
No  place  in  the  world,  says  Father  Neret,  excites  more  pro¬ 
found  devotion.  The  continual  arrival  of  caravans  from  all 
the  nations  of  Christendom — the  public  prayers — the  pros¬ 
trations — nay,  even  the  richness  of  the  presents  sent  thither 
by  the  Christian  princes — altogether  produce  feelings  in  the 
soul  which  it  is  much  easier  to  conceive  than  to  describe.* 

It  may  be  added,  that. the  effect  of  all  this  is  heightened 
by  an  extraordinary  contrast ;  for,  on  quitting  the  grotto 
where  you  have  met  with  the  riches,  the  arts,  the  religion 
of  civilized  nations,  you  find  yourself  in  a  profound  solitude, 
amid  wretched  Arab  huts,  among  half-naked  savages  and 
faithless  Mussulmans.  This  place  is  nevertheless  the  same 
where*  so  many  miracles  were  displayed ;  but  this  sacred 
land  dares  no  more  express  its  joy,  and  locks  within  its 
bosom  the  recollections  of  its  glory. 

Bethlehem  has  usually  shared  the  vicissitudes  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  being,  both  from  its  situation  and  the  nature  of  the  relics 
which  it  contains,  exposed  to  the  rage  or  cupidity  of  barba¬ 
rian  conquerors.  It  fell  under  the  power  of  the  Saracens 
when  led  by  their  victorious  calif ;  but  for  seven  centuries 
it  has  been  guarded  by  a  succession  of  religious  persons 
who,  it  has  been  said,  suffer  a  perpetual  martyrdom.  In 
the  time  of  Yolney,  they  reckoned  about  six  hundred  men 

**  Pour  ce  qui  est  des  ornemens  de  ce  saint  Temple,  il  n’en  reste  que 
fort  peu  en  comparaison  de  ce  qui  y  estoit.  Car  tous  les  mure  estoient 
autrefois  magnifiquement  reuestus  et  couuertes  de  belles  tables  de 
marbre  gris  ondd,  comme  on  en  voit  encore  en  quelques  endroits  que  les 
Irifidelles  n’ont  pfi  avoir.  Comme  ils  ont  emporte  tout  le  reste  pour  en 
orner  leurs  Mosquees,  et  est  une  chose  pitoyable  de  voir  que  tous  les  murs 
sont  remplis  de  gros  clous  et  crampons  de  fer  qui  les  tenoient  attachez. 
Au-dessus  des  colomnes  de  la  nef  est  unmur  tout  couvert,  et  peint  de  la 
plus  belle  et  fine  Mosa'ique  qu’il  est  possible  de  voir,  n’estant  composde 
que  de  petites  pierres  fines  et  transparentes  comme  cristal  de  toutes  les 
couleurs,  qui  representent  grandes  figures  et  histoires  de  la  Vie,  Miracles, 
Mort,  et  Passion  de  Nostre  Seigneur,  si  naiument  faites  des  couleurs  si 
vives  et  dclatantes,  et  le  fonds  d’un  or  si  luysant,  qu’il  semble  qu’elles 
sont  faites  depuis  peu,  encore  qu’il  y  ait  plus  de  treize  cens  ans.  Entre 
ces  figures  sont  treize  fenestres  de  chacun  coste,  qui  rendent  un  grand 
jour  par  toute  l’eglise  :  derridre  la  troisidme  et  quatridme  colomne  ds  la 
main  droite  est  un  tres-beau  et  riche  base  de  marbre  blanc  de  forme 
ronde  a  six  pans  de  quelques  trois  pieds  de  diametre,  qui  sert  de  fonds 
baptismaux. — Doubdan,  p.  133. 


T 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM.  173 

inthis  village  capable  of  bearing  arms,  of  whom  about  one 
hundred  were  Latin  Christians.  The  necessity  of  uniting 
for  their  common  defence  against  the  Bedouins,  and  the  still 
more  relentless  agents  of  despotism,  has  in  many  instances 
prevailed  over  points  of  faith,  and  induced  the  monks  to  live 
on  good  terms  with  the  Mohammedans.  Mr.  Buckingham 
assures  us,  that  at  present  the  town  is  equal  to  Nazareth  in 
extent,  and  contains  from  1000  to  1500  inhabitants,  who  are 
almost  wholly  Christians.  Dr.  Richardson  gives  the  num¬ 
ber  at  300, — an  estimate,  we  should  imagine,  considerably 
below  the  actual  population.  The  men  are  robust  and  well 
made,  and  the  women  are  among  the  fairest  and  most  hand¬ 
some  that  are  to  be  seen  in  Palestine. 

The  neighbourhood  of  Bethlehem  presents  a  variety  of 
objects  too  important  to  be  passed  over  without  a  slight  no¬ 
tice.  The  Pools  of  Solomon,  connected,  it  is  probable,  with 
a  scheme  for  supplying  Jerusalem  with  water,  are  usually 
visited  by  the  more  enlightened  class  of  travellers,  who  com¬ 
bine  in  their  researches  a  regard  to  the  arts  as  well  as  to 
the  religion  of  Judea.  These  reservoirs  are  four  in  number, 
being  so  disposed,  says  Maundrell,  that  the  water  of  the 
uppermost  may  descend  into  the  second,  and  that  of  the 
second  into  the  third.  Their  figure  is  quadrangular ;  the 
breadth  is  the  same  in  all,  amounting  to  about  ninety  paces. 
In  their  length  there  is  some  difference  ;  the  first  being  one 
hundred  and  sixty  paces  long,  the  second  two  hundred,  and 
the  third  two  hundred  and  twenty.  They  are  all  lined  with 
masonry  and  plastered.  The  springs  whence  the  pools  are 
supplied  seem  to  have  been  secured  with  great  care,  having, 
says  the  author  of  the  Journey  from  Aleppo,  “  no  avenue 
to  them  but  by  a  little  hole  like  to  the  mouth  of  a  narrow 
well.”  Through  this  hole  you  descend  directly  about  four 
yards,  when  you  come  to  a  chamber  forty-five  feet  long 
and  twenty-four  broad,  adjoining  to  which  there  is  another 
apartment  of  the  same  kind,  but  not  quite  so  large.  Both 
these  rooms  are  neatly  arched,  and  have  an  air  of  great 
antiquity.  The  water,  which  rises  from  four  separate 
sources,  is  partly  conveyed  by  a  subterranean  passage  into 
the  ponds  ;  the  remainder  being  received  into  an  aqueduct 
of  brick  pipes,  and  carried  by  many  turnings  and  windings 
among  the  mountains  to  the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  The  monks 
of  Bethlehem  are  perfectly  convinced  that  it  was  in  allusion 

P  2 


174 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


to  this  guarded  treasure,  so  valuable  in  Palestine,  that  Solo¬ 
mon  called  his  beloved  spouse  a  “  sealed  fountain.” 

Of  the  aqueduct  here  mentioned  some  traces  are  still  to  be 
detected  in  the  intermediate  space,  and  denote  an  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  the  principles  of  hydraulics  which  we  could  not 
have  expected  among  Hebrew  architects.  It  was  con¬ 
structed  all  along  upon  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  framed 
of  perforated  stones  let  into  one  another,  with  a  fillet  round 
the  cavity,  so  contrived  as  to  prevent  leakage,  and  united 
together  with  so  firm  a  cement  that  they  will  sometimes 
sooner  break  than  endure  a  separation.  These  pipes  were 
covered  with  an  arch,  or  layer  of  flags,  strengthened  by  the 
application  of  a  peculiarly  strong  mortar ;  the  whole  “  being 
endued  with  such  absolute  firmness  as  if  it  had  been  de¬ 
signed  for  eternity.  But  the  Turks  have  demonstrated  in 
this  instance,  that  nothing  can  be  so  well  wrought  but  they 
are  able  to  destroy  it ;  for  of  this  strong  aqueduct,  which  was 
carried  formerly  five  or  six  leagues  with  so  vast  expense  and 
labour,  you  see  now  only  here  and  there  a  fragment  re¬ 
maining.”* 

In  a  valley  contiguous  to  Bethlehem  are  the  remains  of  a 
church  and  convent  which  were  erected  by  the  pious  em¬ 
press  over  the  place  where  the  angels  appeared  to  the  shep¬ 
herds.  Nothing  has  survived  the  desolation  to  which  every 
edifice  in  Palestine  has  been  repeatedly  subjected  but  a 
small  grotto  wherein  the  heavenly  communication  was 
vouchsafed  to  the  simple  keepers  of  the  flock. 

On  the  way  back  to  Jerusalem  the  traveller  is  induced  to 
leave  the  more  direct  route,  that  he  may  visit  the  Convent 
of  St.  John  in  the  Desert.  This  monastery  is  built  over  the 
dwelling  where  the  Baptist  is  supposed  to  have  first  seen 
the  light  ;  and  accordingly,  under  the  altar,  the  spot  on 
which  he  was  brought  forth  is  marked  by  a  star  of  marble 
bearing  this  inscription  : — 

“Hie  precursor  Domini  Christi  natusest.” 

Here  the  forerunner  of  the  Lord  Christ  was  born. 

The  church  belonging  to  this  establishment  has  been  de¬ 
scribed  as  one  of  the  best  in  the  Holy  Land,  having  an  ele¬ 
gant  cupola  and  a  pavement  of  Mosaic,  with  some  paintings. 


*  Maundrell,  p  90. 


175 


i 

SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 

But  the  appearance,  nevertheless,  is  poor  and  deserted,  as 
if  its  votaries  were  few,  and  but  little  concerned  in  preserv¬ 
ing  its  ancient  grandeur.  The  account  given  of  it  by  Sandys 
will  amuse  the  reader  by  the  simplicity  of  the  narrative  as 
well  as  by  the  deep  interest  the  good  man  felt  in  the  various 
scenes  which  passed  before  him  : — “  Having  travelled  about 
a  mile  and  a  halfe  farther,  we  came  to  the  cave  where  the 
Baptist  is  said  to  have  lived  from  the  age  of  seven  until 
such  time  as  he  went  into  the  wilderness  by  Jordan,  se~ 
questred  from  the  abode  of  men,  and  feeding  on  such  wilde 
nourishment  as  these  uninhabited  places  affoorded.  This 
cave  is  seated  on  the  northern  side  of  a  desart  mountaine, — 
only  beholden  to  the  locust-tree, — hewne  out  of  the  precipi¬ 
tating  rock,  so  as  difficultly  to  be  ascended  or  descended  to, 
entered  at  the  east  corner,  and  receiving  light  from  a  win¬ 
dow  in  the  side.  At  the  upper  end  there  is  a  bench  of  the 
selfesame,  whereon,  they  say,  he  accustomed  to  sleepe ;  of 
which  whoso  breaks  a  piece  off  stands  forthwith  excommu¬ 
nicate.  Over  this,  on  a  little  flat,  stand  the  ruins  of  a  mon¬ 
astery,  on  the  south  side,  naturally  walled  with  the  steepe 
of  a  mountain  ;  from  whence  there  gusheth  a  living  spring 
which  entereth  the  rock,  and  atrain  bursteth  forth  beneathe 
the  mouth  of  the  cave, — a  place  that  would  make  solitari- 
nesse  delightful,  and  stand  in  comparison  with  the  turbu¬ 
lent  pompe  of  cities.  This  overlooketh  a  profound  valley, 
on  the  far  side  hemmed  with  aspiring  mountains,  whereof 
some  are  cut  (or  naturally  so)  in  degrees  like  allies,  which 
would  be  else  unaccessibly  fruitlesse  ;  whose  levels  yet  bear 
the  stumps  of  decayed  vines,  shadowed  hot  rarely  with 
olives  and  locusts.  And  surely  I  think  that  all  or  most  of 
those  mountains  have  bin  so  husbanded,  else  could  this  little 
countrey  have  never  sustained  such  a  multitude  of  people. 
After  we  had  fed  of  such  provision  as  was  brought  us  from 
the  city  by  other  of  the  fraternitie  that  there  met  us,  we 
turned  towards  Jerusalem,  leaving  the  way  of  Bethlehem  on 
the  right-hand,  and  that  of  Emmaus  on  the  left.  The  first 
place  of  note  that  we  met  with  was  there  where  once  stood 
the  dwelling  of  Zachary,  seated  on  the  side  of  a  fruitful  hill, 
well  stored  with  olives  and  vineyards.  Hither  came  the 
blessed  Virgin  to  visit  her  cousin  Elisabeth.  Here  died  Elisa¬ 
beth,  and  here,  in  a  grot,  on  the  side  of  a  vault  or  chapell,  lies 
buried  ;  over  which  a  goodly  church  was  erected,  together 


176 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


with  a  monastery,  whereof  now  little  standeth  but  a  part  of 
the  walls,  which  offer  to  the  view  some  fragments  of  paint¬ 
ing,  which  show  that  the  rest  have  been  exquisit.  Beyond 
and  lower  is  Our  Lady’s  Fountaine  (so  called  of  the  inhabit¬ 
ants),  which  maintaineth  a  little  current  thorow  the  neigh¬ 
bouring  valley.  Neer  this,  in  the  bottome  and  uttermost 
extent  thereof,  there  standeth  a  temple,  once  sumptuous, 
now  desolate,  built  by  Helena,  and  dedicated  to  St.  John 
Baptist,  in  the  place  where  Zachary  had  another  house, 
possest,  as  the  rest,  by  the  beastly  Arabians,  who  defile  it 
with  their  cattell,  and  employ  to  the  basest  of  uses.”* 

It  is  a  point  still  unsettled,  whether  the  food  of  him  who 
was  sent  to  prepare  the  way  consisted  of  fruit  or  of  insects  ; 
the  name  locust  being  indiscriminately  applied  to  either,  and 
both  being  used  by  the  inhabitants  of  Palestine.  There  is 
less  doubt  in  regard  to  the  opinions  of  the  early  Christians, 
who  were  unanimous  in  the  belief  that  the  Baptist  lived  on 
the  produce  of  a  particular  tree  which  still  abounds  in  the 
desert.  Nay,  the  friars  at  the  present  day  assert,  that  the 
very  plants  which  yielded  sustenance  to  the  holy  recluse 
continue  to  flourish  in  their  ancient  vigour  ;  and  the  popish 
pilgrims,  says  Mr.  Maundrell,  who  dare  not  be  wiser  than 
such  blind  guides,  gather  the  fruit  of  them,  and  carry  it 
away  with  much  devotion. 

But  we  must  not  permit  the  interesting  associations  of 
Bethlehem  to  detain  us  any  longer  in  its  vicinity.  We  pro¬ 
ceed  now  towards  the  extremity  of  the  Dead  Sea  ;  whence, 
after  having  visited  the  most  remarkable  scenes  on  its 
western  shore, — the  mouth  of  the  Jordan  and  the  position 
of  Jericho, — we  shall  return  to  the  capital  by  a  different 
route. 

After  having  satisfied  his  curiosity  in  church  and  convent, 
the  traveller  turns  his  face  southward  to  Tekoa  and  Hebron, 
those  remoter  villages  of  the  Holy  Land.  The  former, 
which  was  built  by  Rehoboam,  and  is  distinguished  as  the 
birthplace  of  Amos  the  prophet,  presents  considerable  ruins, 
and  even  some  remains  of  architecture.  It  appears  to  have 
stood  upon  a  hill,  which  Pococke  describes  as  being  about 
half  a  mile  in  length  and  a  furlong  broad.  On  the  north¬ 
eastern  corner  there  are  fragments  of  an  old  building,  sup- 


*  Relation  of  a  Journey,  p.  183. 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


177 


posed  to  have  been  a  fortress,  while  about  half-way  up  the 
ascent  there  are  similar  indications  of  a  church  now  in  a 
state  of  complete  dilapidation.  There  is  preserved,  how¬ 
ever,  a  large  font  of  an  octagon  form,  composed  of  red  and 
white  marble  ;  as  also  pieces  of  broken  pillars  consisting 
of  the  same  material. 

Farther  towards  the  south,  various  manifestations  present 
themselves  of  ancient  civilization,  the  traces  of  which  are 
most  distinctly  marked  by  places  of  worship  and  numerous 
strongholds.  The  traveller  just  named  mentions  a  ruined 
castle  called  Creightoun,  situated  on  the  side  of  a  steep  hill, 
and  a  church  dedicated  to  St.  Pantaleone.  At  a  little  dis¬ 
tance  there  is  an  immense  grotto,  which  is  said  on  one  oc¬ 
casion  to  have  contained  30,000  men  ;  and  hence  it  is  con¬ 
jectured  to  be  one  of  those  retreats  in  the  fastnesses  of  En- 
gedi  to  which  David  fled  from  the  pursuit  of  Saul.  About 
two  miles  farther,  in  a  south-eastern  direction,  is  the  Mount 
of  Bethulia,  near  a  village  of  the  same  name ;  a  position 
which  is  thought  to  agree  with  that  of  Beth-haccerem,  speci¬ 
fied  by  Jeremiah  as  a  proper  place  for  a  beacon,  where  the 
children  of  Benjamin  were  to  sound  the  trumpet  in  Tekoa.* 

There  is  a  tradition  that  the  knights  of  Jerusalem,  during 
the  Holy  War,  held  this  strong  post  forty  years  after  the 
capital  had  fallen.  It  is  a  single  hill,  and  very  high  ;  and 
the  top  of  it  appears  like  a  large  mount  formed  by  art,  being 
defended  by  a  double  line  of  fortifications  and  several  towers, 
which  in  a  rude  state  of  warfare  might  be  pronounced 
almost  impregnable.  At  the  foot  of  an  eminence  towards 
the  north  there  are  the  remains  of  a  magnificent  church  as 
well  as  of  other  buildings.  On  a  slope  a  little  farther  west 
there  is  a  cistern  connected  with  a  pond,  which  appears  to 
have  had  an  island  in  it,  and  probably  some  structure  suited 
to  the  supply  of  water.  These  works  were  also  encom¬ 
passed  with  a  double  wall ;  and  it  is  said  that  two  aqueducts 
may  still  be  perceived  terminating  in  the  basin,  one  from 
the  Sealed  Fountain  of  Solomon,  and  another  from  the  hilly 
district  which  stretches  between  Bethlehem  and  Tekoa. 

In  reference  to  the  tradition  that  the  knights  of  Jerusalem 

*  O  ye  children  of  Benjamin,  gather  yourselves  to  flee  out  of  the  midst 
of  Jerusalem,  and  blow  the  trumpet  in  Tekoa,  and  set  up  a  sign  of  fire  in 
Beth-haccerem :  for  evil  appeareth  out  of  the  north,  and  great  destruc¬ 
tion.— Jer.  vi.  1. 


178 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


held  the  garrison  of  Bethulia  forty  years,  Captain  Mangles 
remarks,  that  the  place  is  too  small  to  have  contained  even 
half  the  number  of  men  which  would  have  been  requisite  to 
make  any  stand  in  such  a  country ;  and  the  ruins,  though 
they  maybe  those  of  a  place  once  defended  by  Franks,  ap¬ 
pear  to  have  had  an  earlier  origin,  as  the  architecture  seems 
to  be  decidedly  Roman.  There  can  be  little  doubt,  indeed, 
that  it  is  one  of  the  works  of  Herod  the  Great ;  and  its  dis¬ 
tance  does  not  differ  much  from  that  of  Herodium,  which  is 
described  by  Josephus  as  being  about  sixty  furlongs  from  the 
metropolis.  The  delineation  of  the  hill,  too,  by  the  same 
historian,  corresponds  with  the  Mount  of  the  Franks  ;  and 
when  he  adds  that  water  was  conveyed  to  it  at  a  great  ex¬ 
pense,  we  cannot  permit  ourselves  to  question  the  identity 
of  Herodium  and  the  fortress  of  Bethulia.* 

Hebron,  Habroun,  or,  according  to  the  Arabic  orthography 
followed  by  the  moderns,  El  Hhalil,  is  considerably  removed 
from  the  usual  track  of  pilgrims  and  tourists.  An  accident 
or  quarrel  once  excited  the  indignation  of  the  inhabitants 
against  the  Franks,  who  during  a  long  course  of  time  were 
dissuaded  by  the  monks  at  Jerusalem  from  extending  their 
researches  beyond  Bethlehem.  Sandys  could  only  report, 
apparently  on  the  information  of  others,  that  Hebron  was 
reduced  to  ruins  ;  but  he  adds,  there  is  a  little  village  seated 
in  the  field  of  Machpelah,  “  where  standeth  a  goodly  temple, 
erected  over  the  burying-cave  of  the  patriarchs  by  Helena, 
the  mother  of  Constantine,  converted  now  into  a  mosque.” 
Without  minutely  analyzing  the  topography  of  this  rather 
credulous  author,  we  may  repeat  the  assurance  which  he 
gives  relative  to  the  existence  of  the  imperial  monument 
dedicated  to  the  memory  of  Abraham  and  his  immediate  de¬ 
scendants.  M.  Burckhardt,  who  saw  it  in  1807,  bears  tes¬ 
timony  to  the  fact  that  the  sepulchre,  once  a  Greek  church, 
is  now  appropriated  to  the  worship  of  Mohammed.  The 
ascent  to  it  is  by  a  large  and  fine  staircase  that  leads  to  a 
long  gallery,  the  entrance  to  which  is  by  a  small  court. 
Towards  the  left  is  a  portico  resting  upon  square  pillars. 
The  vestibule  of  the  temple  contains  two  rooms  ;  the  one 
being  the  tomb  of  Abraham,  the  other  that  of  Sarah.  In 
the  body  of  the  church,  between  two  large  pillars  on  the 

*  Modern  Traveller,  vol.  i.p.  183.  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib.  xiv.  c.  13. 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


179 


right,  is  seen  a  small  recess,  in  which  is  the  sepulchre  of 
Isaac,  and  in  a  similar  one  upon  the  left  is  that  of  his  wife. 
On  the  opposite  side  of  the  court  is  another  vestibule,  which 
has  also  two  rooms,  being  respectively  the  tomb  of  Jacob 
and  of  his  spouse.  At  the  extremity  of  the  portico,  upon 
the  right-hand,  is  a  door  which  leads  to  a  sort  of  long  gal¬ 
lery  that  still  serves  for  a  mosque  ;  and  passing  from  thence 
is  observed  another  room  containing  the  ashes  of  Joseph, 
which  are  said  to  have  been  carried  thither  by  the  people  of 
Israel.  All  the  sepulchres  of  the  patriarchs  are  covered 
with  rich  carpets  of  green  silk,  magnificently  embroidered 
with  gold  ;  those  of  their  wives  are  red,  embroidered  in  like 
manner.  The  sultans  of  Constantinople  furnish  these  car¬ 
pets,  which  are  renewed  from  time  to  time.  M.  Burck- 
liardt  counted  nine,  one  over  another,  upon  the  sepulchre 
of  Abraham.  The  rooms  also  which  contain  the  tombs  are 
covered  with  rich  carpets  ;  the  entrance  to  them  is  guarded 
by  iron  gates,  and  wooden  doors  plated  with  silver,  having 
bolts  and  padlocks  of  the  same  metal.  More  than  a  hun¬ 
dred  persons  are  employed  in  the  service  of  this  temple  , 
affording,  with  the  decorations  and  wealth  lavished  upon 
the  structure,  a  remarkable  contrast  to  the  simple  life  of  the 
venerable  man  to  whose  memory  it  is  meant  to  do  honour. 

If  the  description  given  by  Sanays  in  the  seventeenth 
century  was  correct,  we  must  conclude  that  Hebron  has 
subsequently  enjoyed  a  period  of  improvement.  According 
to  the  traveller  whom  we  have  just  quoted,  it  contains  about 
four  hundred  families,  of  which  about  a  fourth  part  are 
Jews.  It  is  situated  on  the  slope  of  a  mountain  ;  has  a 
strong  castle ;  can  boast  abundance  of  provisions,  a  con¬ 
siderable  number  of  shops,  and  some  neat  houses.  The 
whole  of  the  country  between  Tekoa  and  Hebron  is  finer 
and  better  cultivated  than  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem  ;  while  the  sides  of  the  hills,  instead  of  being  naked 
and  dreary,  are  richly  studded  with  the  oak,  the  arbutus,  the 
Scottish  fir,  and  a  variety  of  flowering-shrubs. 

Beyond  this  point  the  information  of  Europeans  ceased 
until  about  twelve  years  ago,  when  the  desert  which 
stretches  between  the  Sepulchre  of  Abraham  and  the  Dead 
Sea  was  entered  by  Mr.  Bankes,  Mr.  Legh,  and  Captains  Irby 
and  Mangles.  After  a  journey  of  three  days  from  Hebron 
towards  the  south,  the  travellers  were  informed  of  extensive 
ruins  at  Abdi  in  the  Wilderness.  On  turning  their  faces  to 


180 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


Kerek,  the  object  of  their  search,  the  road  led  ill  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  Lake  Asphaltites,  through  a  country  which, 
although  well  cultivated,  was  extremely  uninteresting. 
They  observed  a  variety  of  ruins,  with  some  subterranean 
tombs  in  the  neighbourhood,  denoting  the  existence  of  an 
ancient  town ;  when,  after  having  advanced  eight  or  nine 
miles  farther,  they  found  themselves  on  the  borders  of  an 
extensive  desert,  entirely  abandoned  to  the  wandering  Be¬ 
douins.  Near  the  point  at  which  this  change  of  aspect 
begins  is  a  place  called  by  the  natives  Al-baid,  where  there 
is  a  fountain  in  the  rock  and  a  pool  of  greenish  water. 

The  travellers,  at  some  distance  from  this  halting-place, 
arrived  at  a  camp  of  Jellaheen  Arabs,  who  told  them  that  in 
years  of  scarcity  they  were  accustomed  to  retire  into  Egypt, 
— a  practice  which  seems  to  have  been  handed  down  from 
the  days  of  the  patriarchs,  or  dictated  by  the  same  necessity 
that  compelled  the  family  of  Jacob  to  adopt  a  similar  expe¬ 
dient.  At  the  distance  of  eight  hours  from  Al-baid,  in  a 
deep  barren  valley,  are  the  ruins  of  an  old  Turkish  fort, 
standing  on  a  solitary  rock  to  the  left  of  the  track.  Farther 
on  the  cliff  is  excavated,  at  a  considerable  height,  into  loop¬ 
holes  ;  where  it  is  probable  a  barrier  was  formerly  estab¬ 
lished  for  levying  a  certain  duty  on  goods  and  travellers. 
The  place  is  called  El  Zowar,  or  El  Ghor.  From  hence  a 
gravelly  ravine,  studded  with  bushes  of  acacia  and  other 
shrubs,  conducts  to  the  great  plain  at  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  Dead  Sea ;  bounded  at  the  distance  of  eight  or  nine 
miles  by  a  sandy  cliff  at  least  seventy  feet  high,  which  forms 
a  barrier  to  the  lake  when  at  its  greatest  elevation.  The 
existence  of  that  long  valley  which  extends  from  Asphal¬ 
tites  to  the  iEIanitic  Gulf  was  first  ascertained  by  Burck- 
hardt ;  and  the  prolongation  of  it,  as  connected  with  the 
hollow  of  the  Jordan,  has  been  considered  as  a  proof  that 
the  river  at  one  time  discharged  its  waters  into  the  eastern 
branch  of  the  Red  Sea.  The  change  is  attributed  to  that 
great  volcanic  convulsion  mentioned  in  the  nineteenth  chap¬ 
ter  of  Genesis,  which,  interrupting  the  course  of  the  river, 
converted  into  a  lake  the  fertile  plain  occupied  by  the  cities 
of  Adma,  Zeboim,  Sodom,  and  Gomorrah,  and  reduced  all 
the  valley  southward  to  the  condition  of  a  sandy  waste.* 

*  Burckhardt’s  Travels  in  Syria,  Pref.  vi.  Modern  Traveller,  vol.  i. 
p.  203.  Doubdan,  Voyage,  p.  322,  326. 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM.  181 


But,  having  reached  the  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea  by  an 
Unfrequented  path,  we  have  no  guide  to  the  examination 
of  the  wild  country  which  rises  on  either  side  of  it ;  we 
therefore  prefer  the  more  wonted  route  which  leads  to  its 
northern  border,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Jordan  and  the  site 
of  the  ancient  Jericho.  Avoiding,  at  the  same  time,  the 
track  of  the  caravan  from  Jerusalem  through  the  hilly  desert 
which  intervenes,  we  shall  accompany  the  Vicomte  de 
Chateaubriand  from  Bethlehem  through  the  interesting 
Valley  of  Santa  Saba. 

On  leaving  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  the  traveller  pur¬ 
sues  his  course  eastward,  through  a  vale  where  Abraham 
is  said  to  have  fed  his  flocks.  This  pastoral  tract,  how¬ 
ever,  is  soon  succeeded  by  a  range  of  hilly  ground,  so  ex¬ 
tremely  barren  that  not  even  a  root  of  moss  is  to  be  seen 
upon  it.  Descending  the  farther  side  of  this  meager  plat¬ 
form  two  lofty  towers  are  perceived,  rising  from  a  deep 
valley,  marking  the  site  of  the  Convent  of  Santa  Saba. 
Nothing  can  be  more  dreary  than  the  situation  of  this  reli¬ 
gious  house.  It  is  erected  in  a  ravine,  sunk  to  the  depth 
of  several  hundred  feet,  where  the  brook  Kedron  has  formed 
a  channel,  which  is  dry  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  The 
church  is  on  a  little  eminence  at  the  bottom  of  the  dell ; 
whence  the  buildings  of  the  monastery  rise  by  perpendicu¬ 
lar  flights  of  steps  and  passages  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  and 
thus  ascend  to  the  ridge  of  the  hill,  where  they  terminate 
in  the  two  square  towers  already  mentioned.  From  hence 
you  descry  the  sterile  summits  of  the  mountains  both  to¬ 
wards  the  cast  and  west ;  the  course  of  the  stream  from 
Jerusalem  ;  and  the  numerous  grottoes  formerly  occupied 
by  Christian  anchorites. 

In  advancing,  the  aspect  of  the  country  still  continues 
the  same,  white  and  dusty,  without  tree,  herbage,  or  even 
moss.  At  length  the  road  seeks  a  lower  level,  and  ap¬ 
proaches  the  rocky  border  which  bounds  the  Valley  of  the 
Jordan  ;  when,  after  a  toilsome  journey  of  ten  or  twelve 
hours,  the  traveller  sees  stretching  out  before  his  eyes  the 
Dead  Sea  and  the  line  of  the  river.  But  the  landscape, 
however  grand,  admits  of  no  comparison  to  the  scenery 
of  Europe.  No  fields  waving  with  corn, — no  plains  cov¬ 
ered  with  rich  pasture  present  themselves  from  the  moun¬ 
tains  of  Lower  Palestine.  Figure  to  yourself  two  long 


182 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


chains  of  mountains,  running  in  a  parallel  direction  from 
north  to  south,  without  breaks  and  without  undulations. 
The  eastern  or  Arabian  chain  is  the  highest ;  and,  when 
seen  at  the  distance  of  eight  or  ten  leagues,  you  would 
take  it  to  be  a  prodigious  perpendicular  wall,  resembling 
Mount  Jura  in  its  form  and  azure  colour.  Not  one  sum¬ 
mit,  not  the  smallest  peak  can  be  distinguished ;  you 
merely  perceive  slight  inflections  here  and  there,  “  as  if  the 
hand  of  the  painter  who  drew  this  horizontal  line  along 
the  sky  had  trembled  in  some  places.” 

The  mountains  of  Judea  form  the  range  on  which  the 
observer  stands  as  he  looks  down  on  the  Lake  Asphaltites. 
Less  lofty  and  more  unequal  than  the  eastern  chain,  it 
differs  from  the  other  in  its  nature  also ;  exhibiting  heaps 
of  chalk  and  sand,  whose  form,  it  is  said,  bears  some  re¬ 
semblance  to  piles  of  arms,  waving  standards,  or  the  tents 
of  a  camp  pitched  on  the  border  of  a  plain.  The  Arabian 
side,  on  the  contrary,  presents  nothing  but  black  precipi¬ 
tous  rocks,  which  throw  their  lengthened  shadow  over  the 
waters  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The  smallest  bird  of  heaven 
would  not  find  among  these  crags  a  single  blade  of  grass 
for  its  sustenance  ;  every  thing  announces  the  country  of  a 
reprobate  people,  and  well  fitted  to  perpetuate  the  punish¬ 
ment  denounced  against  Ammon  and  Moab. 

The  valley  confined  by  these  two  chains  of  mountains 
displays  a  soil  resembling  the  bottom  of  a  sea  which  has 
long  retired  from  its  bed,  a  beach  covered  with  salt,  dry 
mud,  and  moving  sands,  furrowed,  as  it  were,  by  the  waves. 
Here  and  there  stunted  shrubs  vegetate  with  difficulty  upon 
this  inanimate  tract ;  their  leaves  are  covered  with  salt,  and 
their  bark  has  a  smoky  smell  and  taste.  Instead  of  vil¬ 
lages  you  perceive  the  ruins  of  a  few  towers.  In  the  middle 
of  this  valley  flows  a  discoloured  river,  which  reluctantly 
throws  itself  into  the  pestilential  lake  by  which  it  is  in¬ 
gulfed.  Its  course  amid  the  sands  can  be  distinguished 
only  by  the  willows  and  the  reeds  that  border  it ;  among 
which  the  Arab  lies  in  ambush  to  attack  the  traveller  and 
to  murder  the  pilgrim.* 

M.  Chateaubriand  remarks,  that  when  you  travel  in 
Judea  the  heart  is  at  first  filled  with  profound  melancholy. 


*  Chateaubriand,  tom.  i.  p.  408. 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


183 


But  when,  passing  from  solitude  to  solitude,  boundless 
space  opens  before  you,  this  feeling  wears  off  by  degrees, 
and  you  experience  a  secret  awe,  which,  so  far  from  de¬ 
pressing  the  soul,  imparts  life  and  elevates  the  genius. 
Extraordinary  appearances  everywhere  proclaim  a  land 
teeming  with  miracles.  The  burning  sun,  the  towering 
eagle,  the  barren  fig-tree,  all  the  poetry,  all  the  pictures  of 
Scripture  are  here.  Every  name  commemorates  a  mys¬ 
tery, — every  grotto  announces  a  prediction, — every  hill  re¬ 
echoes  the  accents  of  a  prophet.  God  himself  has  spoken 
in  these  regions,  dried  up  rivers,  rent  the  rocks,  and  opened 
the  grave.  “  The  desert  still  appears  mute  with  terror  ; 
and  you  would  imagine  that  it  had  never  presumed  to  in¬ 
terrupt  the  silence  since  it  heard  the  awful  voice  of  the 
Eternal. 

The  celebrated  lake  which  occupies  the  site  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  is  called  in  Scripture  the  Dead  Sea.  Among 
the  Greeks  and  Latins  it  is  known  by  the  name  of  Asphal- 
tites  ;  the  Arabs  denominate  it  Bahar  Loth,  or  Sea  of 
Lot.  M.  de  Chateaubriand  does  not  agree  with  those  who 
conclude  it  to  be  the  crater  of  a  volcano  ;  for,  having  seen 
Vesuvius,  Solfatara,  the  Peak  of  the  Azores,  and  the  ex¬ 
tinguished  volcanoes  of  Auvergne,  he  remarked  in  all  of 
them  the  same  characters  ;  that  is  to  say,  mountains  exca¬ 
vated  in  the  form  of  a  tunnel,  lava,  and  ashes,  which  ex¬ 
hibited  incontestable  proof  of  the  agency  of  fire.  The  Salt 
Sea,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  lake  of  great  length,  curved  like 
a  bow,  placed  between  two  ranges  of  mountains,  which 
have  no  mutual  coherence  of  form,  no  similarity  of  compo¬ 
sition.  They  do  not  meet  at  the  two  extremities  of  the 
lake ;  but  while  the  one  continues  to  bound  the  valley  of 
Jordan,  and  to  run  northward  as  far  as  Tiberias,  the  other 
stretches  away  to  the  south  till  it  loses  itself  in  the  sands 
of  Yemen.  There  are,  it  is  true,  hot  springs,  quantities  of 
bitumen,  sulphur,  and  asphaltos ;  but  these  of  themselves 
are  not  sufficient  to  attest  the  previous  existence  of  a  vol¬ 
cano.  With  respect,  indeed,  to  the  ingulfed  cities,  if  we 
adopt  the  idea  of  Michaelis  and  of  Biisching,  physics  may 
be  admitted  to  explain  the  catastrophe  without  offence  to 
religion.  According  to  their  views,  Sodom  was  built  upon 
a  mine  of  bitumen, — a  fact  which  is  ascertained  by  the  tes¬ 
timony  of  Moses  and  Josephus,  who  speak  of  wells  of 


184  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

naphtha  in  the  Valley  of  Sitldim.  Lightning  kindled  the 
combustible  mass,  and  the  guilty  cities  sank  in  the  subter¬ 
raneous  conflagration.  Malte  Brun  ingeniously  suggests 
that  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  themselves  may  have  been  built 
of  bituminous  stones,  and  thus  have  been  set  in  flames  by 
the  fire  from  heaven. 

According  to  Strabo,  there  were  thirteen  towns  swal¬ 
lowed  up  in  the  Lake  Asphaltites  ;  Stephen  of  Byzantium 
reckons  eight ;  the  book  of  Genesis,  while  it  names  five  as 
situated  in  the  Vale  of  Siddim,  relates  the  destruction  of 
two  only  :  four  are  mentioned  in  Deuteronomy,  and  five  are 
noticed  by  the  author  of  Ecclesiasticus.  Several  travellers, 
arul  among  others  Troilo  and  D’Arvieux,  assure  us,  that  they 
observed  fragments  of  walls  and  palaces  in  the  Dead  Sea. 
Maundrell  himself  was  not  so  fortunate,  owing,  he  supposes, 
to  the  height  of  the  water  ;  but  he  relates  that  the  Father 
Guardian  and  Procurator  of  Jerusalem,  both  men  of  sense 
and  probity,  declared  that  they  had  once  actually  seen  one 
of  these  ruins ;  that  it  was  so  near  the  shore,  and  the  lake 
so  shallow,  that  they,  together  with  some  Frenchmen,  went 
to  it,  and  found  there  several  pillars  and  other  fragments 
of  buildings.  The  ancients  speak  more  positively  on  this 
subject.  Josephus,  who  employs  a  poetical  expression, 
says,  that  he  perceived  on  the  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea  the 
shades  of  the  overwhelmed  cities.  Strabo  gives  a  circum¬ 
ference  of  sixty  stadia  to  the  ruins  of  Sodom,  which  are 
also  mentioned  by  Tacitus.* 

It  is  surprising  that  no  pains  have  been  taken  by  recent 
travellers  to  throw  light  upon  this  interesting  point,  or  even 
to  learn  whether  the  periodical  rise  and  fall  of  the  lake  af¬ 
fords  any  means  for  determining  the  accuracy  of  the  ancient 
historians  and  geographers.  Should  the  Turks  ever  give 
permission,  and  should  it  be  found  practicable,  to  convey  a 
vessel  from  Jaffa  to  this  inland  sea,  some  curious  discoveries 
would  certainly  be  made.  Is  it  not  amazing  that,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  enterprise  of  modern  science,  the  ancients 
were  better  acquainted  with  the  properties,  and  even  the 
dimensions  of  the  Lake  Asphaltites,  than  the  most  learned 

*  “  Hatid  procul  inrle  campi,  quos  ferunt  olim  uberes,  magnisque  ur- 
bibus  habitatos,  fulminum  jactu,  arsisse ;  et  manere  vestigia,  terramque 
jpsam,  specie  torridam,  vim  frugiferam  perdidisse.” — Tacit.  Hist.  lib.  v. 
cap.  7. 


south  and  east  of  Jerusalem 


185 


nations  of  Europe  in  our  own  times  1  It  is  described  by- 
Aristotle,  Strabo,  Diodorus  Siculus,  Pliny,  Tacitus,  Soli- 
nus,  Josephus,  Galen,  and  Dioscorides.  The  Abbot  of 
Santa  Saba  is  the  only  person  for  many  centuries  who  has 
made  the  tour  of  the  Dead  Sea.  From  his  account  wo 
learn,  through  the  medium  of  Father  Nau,  that  at  its  ex¬ 
tremity  it  is  separated,  as  it  were,  into  two  parts,  and  that 
there  is  a  way  by  which  you  may  walk  across  it,  being  only 
mid-leg  deep,  at  least  in  summer  ;  that  there  the  land  rises, 
and  bounds  another  small  lake  of  a  circular  or  rather  an 
oval  figure,  surrounded  with  plains  and  hills  of  salt ;  and 
that  the  neighbouring  country  is  peopled  by  innumerable 
Arabs.* 

It  is  known  that  seven  considerable  streams  fall  into  this 
basin,  and  hence  it  was  long  supposed  that  it  must  discharge 
its  superfluous  stores  by  subterranean  channels  into  the 
Mediterranean  or  the  Red  Sea.  This  opinion  is  now  every¬ 
where  relinquished,  in  consequence  of  the  learned  remarks 
on  the  effect  of  evaporation  in  a  hot  climate,  published  by 
Dr.  Halley  many  years  ago  ;  the  justness  of  which  were 
admitted  by  Dr.  Shaw,  though  he  calculated  that  the  Jordan 
alone  threw  into  the  lake  every  day  more  than  six  million 
tuns  of  water.  It  is  deserving  of  notice,  that  the  Arabian 
philosophers,  if  we  may  believe  Mariti,  had  anticipated 

*  The  Abbe  Mariti,  who  saw  little  himself,  is  not  willing  to  allow  to 
others  the  advantage  of  having  been  more  fortunate.  “  Quelques  voy- 
ageurs  ont  avancd  qu’on  distinguoit  encore  les  debris  de  ces  villes  in- 
fortundes,  lorsque  les  eaux  de  la  mer  etoient  basses  et  lympides.  11  en 
est  m£me  que-disent  avoir  apperqu  des  restes  de  colonnes  avec  lenrs 
chapitaux.  Mais,  il  faut  que  l’imagination  les  ait  tromp6s,  ou  que  de- 
puis  leur  retour,  cette  mer  ait  eprouve  de  nouvelles  secousses,  car  je  n’y 
peux  rien  voir  de  semblable^  malgrd  toute  ma  bonne  volontC.  Un  pdre 
capucin  crut  aussi  reconnoitre  sur  ces  bords,  les  effets  frappans  de  la 
malediction  celeste.  Ici,  ce  sont  des  traces  de  feu,  Id,  une  surface  de 
cendres,  partout  des  champs  arides  et  maudits.  II  croit  m£me  respirer 
encore  une  odeur  de  soufre.  Pour  moi  je  suis  affects  en  sens  contraire  : 
rien  dans  ce  lieu  ne  me  rappelle  la  desolation  dont  parle  la  bible.  L’air 
y  est  pure,  le  gazon  d’un  beau  vert ;  en  plus  d’un  endroit  mon  ceil  se 
refralchit  aux  eaux  argentines  qui  jaillissant  en  gerbes  da  sommet  des 
monts ;  la  sterilite  dont  une  partie  de  ces  campagnes  ftit  frappde  dds  la 
naissance  du  monde,  rend  plus  douce  par  le  contraste  l’apparence  de 
fertility  que  je  reinarquai  dans  le  sol  d’Alvona.  Mais  d'ou  vient  done 
que  deux  voyageurs  peuvent  £tre  si  opposes  1  C’est  que  un  capucin 
porte  partout  les  cinq  sens  de  la  foi,  et  que  moi  je  ne  suis  dou6  que  do 
ceux  de  la  nature.” — Tom.  ii.  p.  334. 


188 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


Halley  in  his  conclusions  in  regard  to  the  absorbent  power 
of  a  dry  atmosphere.* 

The  marvellous  properties  usually  assigned  to  the  Dead 
Sea  by  the  earlier  travellers  have  vanished  upon  a  more 
rigid  investigation.  It  is  now  known  that  bodies  sink  or 
float  upon  it,  in  proportion  to  their  specific  gravity ;  and 
that,  although  the  water  is  so  dense  as  to  be  favourable  to 
swimmers,  no  security  is  found  against  the  common  accident 
of  drowning.  Josephus  indeed  asserts  that  Vespasian,  in 
order  to  ascertain  the  fact  now  mentioned,  commanded  a 
number  of  his  slaves  to  be  bound  hand  and  foot  and  thrown 
into  the  deepest  part  of  the  lake  ;  and  that,  so  far  from  any 
of  them  sinking,  they  all  maintained  their  place  on  the  sur¬ 
face  until  it  pleased  the  emperor  to  have  them  taken  out* 
But  this  anecdote,  although  perfectly  consistent  with  truth, 
does  not  justify  all  the  inferences  which  have  been  drawn 
from  it.  “  Being  willing  to  make  an  experiment,”  says 
Maundrell,  “  I  went  into  it,  and  found  that  it  bore  up  my 
body  in  swimming  with  an  uncommon  force  ;  but  as  for  that 
relation  of  some  authors,  that  men  wading  into  it  were 
buoyed  up  to  the  top  as  soon  as  they  got  as  deep  as  the 
middle,  I  found  it,  upon  trial,  not  true.”f 

The  water  of  this  sea  has  been  frequently  analyzed  both 
in  France  and  England.  The  specific  gravity  of  it,  accord¬ 
ing  to  Malte  Brun,  is  1.211,  that  of  fresh  water  being  1.000. 
It  is  perfectly  transparent.  The  application  of  tests,  or 
reagents,  prove  that  it  contains  the  muriatic  and  sulphuric 
acids.  There  is  no  alumina  in  it,  nor  does  it  appear  that  it 
is  saturated  with  marine  salt  or  muriate  of  soda.  It  holds 
in  solution  the  following  substances,  and  in  the  proportions 
here  stated :  • 


Muriate  of  lime,  . . . 3.920 

Magnesia, . . 10.246 

Soda, . 10.360 

Sulphate  of  lime, . 054 


We  need  not  add  that  such  a  liquid  must  be  equally  salt 
and  bitter.  As  might  be  expected,  too,  it  is  found  to  de- 

*  “On  plutdt  doit  on  admettre  l’opinion  des  physiciens  Arabes,  qui 
etablissent,  non  sans  quelque  fondement,  qu’elles  se  dissipent  en  evapo- 
ration  T} — Tom.  ii.  p.  334.  " 

t  Mr.  Gordon,  however,  maintains,  that  persons  who  have  never  learned 
to  swim  will  float  on  its  surface.  Chateaubriand,  tom.  i.  p.  412. 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM.  187 


posite  its  salts  in  copious  incrustations,  and  to  prove  a  ready- 
agent  in  all  processes  of  petrifaction.  Clothes,  boots,  and 
hats,  if  dipped  in  the  lake,  or  accidentally  wetted  with  its 
water,  are  found,  when  dried,  to  be  covered  with  a  thick 
coating  of  these  minerals.  Hence,  we  cannot  be  surprised 
to  hear  that  the  Lake  Asphaltites  does  not  present  any 
variety  of  fish.  Mariti  asserts  that  it  produces  none,  and 
even  that  those  which  are  carried  into  it  by  the  rapidity  of 
the  Jordan  perish  almost  immediately  upon  being  immerged 
in  its  acrid  waves.  A  few  shell-snails  constitute  the  sole 
tenants  of  its  dreary  shores,  unmixed  either  with  the  helix 
or  the  muscle. 

It  was  formerly  believed  that  the  approach  to  Asphaltites 
was  fatal  to  birds,  and  that,  like  another  lake  of  antiquity, 
it  had  the  power  of  drawing  them  down  from  the  wing  into 
its  poisonous  waters.  This  dream,  propagated  by  certain 
visionary  travellers,  is  now  completely  discredited.  Flocks 
of  swallows  may  be  seen  skimming  along  its  surface  with 
the  utmost  impunity,  while  the  absence  of  all  other  species 
is  easily  explained  by  a  glance  at  the  naked  hills  and  barren 
plains,  which  supply  no  vegetable  food. 

The  historian  Josephus,  who  measured  the  Dea^  ®ea, 
found  that  in  length  it  extended  about  five  Hundred  and 
eighty  stadia,  and  in  breadth  one  hundred  and  fifty, — -ac¬ 
cording  to  our  standard,  somewha*  jnore  than  seventy  miles 
by  nineteen.  A  recent  trailer,  to  whose  unpublished 
journal  we  have  repeat-dly  alluded,  remarks  that  the  lake, 
when  he  visited  it,  vvas  sunk  or  hollow,  and  that  the  banks 
had  been  recently  under  water,  being  still  very  miry  and 
difficult  to  pass.  The  shores  were  covered  with  dry  wood, 
some  of  it  good  timber,  which  they  say  is  brought  by  the 
Jordan  from  the  country  of  the  Druses.  “  The  water  is 
pungently  salt,  like  oxymuriate  of  soda.  It  is  incredibly 

buoyant.  G - bathed  in  it,  and  when  he  lay  still  on  his 

back  or  belly,  he  floated  with  one-fourth  at  least  of  his  whole 
body  above  the  water.  He  described  the  sensation  as  ex¬ 
traordinary,  and  more  like  lying  on  a  feather-bed  than  float¬ 
ing  on  water.  On  the  other  hand,  he  found  the  greatest 
resistance  in  attempting  to  move  through  it :  it  smarted  his 
eyes  excessively.  I  put  a  piece  of  stick  in  ;  it  required  a 
good  deal  of  pressure  to  make  it  sink,  and  when  let  go  it 
bounded  out  again  like  a  blown  bladder.  The  water  was 


188 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


clear,  and  of  a  yellowish  tinge,  which  might  be  from  the 
colour  of  the  stones  at  bottom,  or  from  the  hazy  atmosphere* 
There  were  green  shrubs  down  to  the  water’s  edge  in  one 
place,  and  nothing  to  give  an  idea  of  any  thing  blasting  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  sea ;  the  desert  character  of  the 
soil  extending  far  beyond  the  possibility  of  being  affected 
by  its  influence.”*' 

The  bitumen  supplied  by  this  singular  basin  affords  the 
means  of  a  comfortable  livelihood  to  a  considerable  number 
of  Arabs  who  frequent  its  shores.  The  Pasha  of  Damas¬ 
cus,  who  finds  it  a  valuable  article  of  commerce,  purchases 
at  a  small  price  the  fruit  of  their  labours,  or  supplies  them 
with  food,  clothing,  and  a  few  ornaments  in  return  for  it. 
In  ancient  times  it  found  a  ready  market  in  Egypt,  where 
it  was  used  in  large  quantities  for  embalming  the  dead  :  it 
was  also  occasionally  employed  as  a  substitute  for  stone,  and 
appeared  in  the  walls  of  houses  and  even  of  temples. 

Associated  with  the  Dead  Sea,  every  reader  has  heard  of 
the  apples  of  Sodom,  a  species  of  fruit  which,  extremely 
beautiful  to  the  eye,  is  bitter  to  the  taste,  and  full  of  dust. 
Tacitus,  in  the  fifth  book  of  his  history,  alludes  to  this  sin¬ 
gula*  fact,  but,  as  usual,  in  language  so  brief  and  ambigu¬ 
ous,  that  no  light  can  be  derived  from  his  description,  atra  el 
inania  velut  in  cinerem  vanescunt.  Some  travellers,  unable 
to  discover  this  singula*  production,  have  considered  it 
merely  as  a  figure  of  speech,  depicting  the  deceitful  nature 
of  all  vicious  enjoyments.  Hassei^pist  regards  it  as  the 
production  of  a  small  plant  called  Solanm m  melongencL ,  a 
species  of  nightshade,  which  is  to  be  found  abundantly  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Jericho.  He  admits  that  tbo  apples 
are  sometimes  full  of  dust ;  but  this,  he  maintains,  appears 
only  when  the  fruit  is  attacked  by  a  certain  insect,  which 
converts  the  whole  of  the  inside  into  a  kind  of  powder, 
leaving  the  rind  wholly  entire,  and  in  possession  of  its 
beautiful  colour. 

*  “  Le  Cardinal  de  Vitry  la  nomine  la  Mer  du  Diable,  et  Marinus  Sa- 
nutus  dit  qu’elle  est  tousjours  couuerte  d’une  fumee  epaisse  et  de  vapeurs 
Tioires,  comme  quelque  sotipirail  ou  cheminbe  d’Enfer.  D’autres  disent 
qne  son  eau  est  noire,  gluante,  epaisse,  grasse,  fanguese,  et  de  tres- 
mauvaise  odeur ;  et  toutefois  j’ay  parle  a  des  Religieux  qui  m’ont  asseur6 
y  avoir  6te,  et  que  cette  eau  est  claire,  nette,  et  liquide :  mais  tr£s-am6re 
et  sal6e.  Et  comme  j’ay  dit,  je  n’y  ay  veu,  ny  f\im6e  ny  brouillards.” — 
Doubdatv,  Voyage  de  la  Terre  Sainte,  p.  317. 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


189 


M.  Seetzen,  again,  holds  the  novel  opinion,  that  this  mys¬ 
terious  apple  contains  a  sort  of  cotton  resembling  silk  ;  and, 
having  no  pulp  or  flesh  in  the  inside,  might  naturally  enough, 
when  sought  for  as  food,  be  denounced  by  the  hungry  Be¬ 
douin  as  pleasing  to  the  eye  and  deceitful  to  the  palate. 
Chateaubriand  has  fixed  on  a  shrub  different  from  any  of 
the  others.  It  grows  two  or  three  leagues  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Jordan,  and  is  of  a  thorny  appearance,  with  small 
tapering  leaves.  Its  fruit  is  exactly  like  that  of  the  Egyp¬ 
tian  lemon,  both  in  size  and  colour.  Before  it  is  ripe  it  is 
filled  with  a  corrosive  and  saline  juice  ;  when  dried,  it 
yields  a  blackish  seed  that  may  be  compared  to  ashes,  and 
which  in  taste  resembles  bitter  pepper.  There  can  be  little 
.doubt  that  this  is  the  true  apple  of  Sodom,  which  flatters 
the  sight  while  it  mocks  the  appetite.* 

'  In  ascending  the  western  shore,  the  traveller  at  length 
reaches  the  point  where  the  Jordan  mixes  its  muddy  waters 
with  those  of  the  lake.  Hasselquist,  the  only  modern  author 
who  describes  the  mouth  of  that  celebrated  river,  tells  us 
that  the  plain  which  extends  from  thence  to  Jericho,  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  more  than  three  leagues,  is,  generally  speaking, 
level,  but  uncultivated  and  barren.  The  soil  is  a  grayish 
sandy  clay,  so  loose  that  the  horses  often  sank  up  to  the 
knees  in  it.  The  whole  surface  of  the  earth  is  covered  with 
salt  in  the  same  manner  as  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and 
would,  it  is  probable,  prove  no  less  fruitful  were  it  irrigated 
with  equal  care.  The  stones  on  the  beach,  it  is  added, 
were  all  quartz,  but  of  various  colours  ;  some  specimens  of 
which,  having  a  slaty  structure,  emitted,  when  exposed  to 
fire,  a  strong  smell  of  bitumen,  thereby  denoting,  perhaps, 
its  volcanic  origin. 

There  is  a  great  want  of  unanimity  among  authors  in 
respect  to  the  width  of  the  Jordan.  The  Swede  whom  we 
have  just  quoted  relates,  that  opposite  to  Jericho  it  was 
eight  paces  over,  the  banks  perpendicular,  six  feet  in  height, 

*  u  As  for  the  apples  of  Sodom,  so  much  talked  of,  I  neither  saw  nor 
heard  of  any  hereabouts ;  nor  was  there  any  tree  to  be  seen  near  the  lake 
from  which  one  might  expect  such  a  fruit.  Which  induces  me  to  believe 
that  there  may  be  a  greater  deceit  in  this  fruit  than  that  which  is  usually 
reported  of  it ;  and  that  its  very  being,  as  well  as  its  beauty,  is  a  fiction, 
only  kept  up,  as  my  Lord  Bacon  observes  other  false  notions  are,  because 
it  serves  for  a  good  allusion,  and  helps  the  poet  to  a  similitude. — Mauri' 
dr  ell,  p.  85. 


190 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


the  water  deep,  muddy,  warm  rather  than  cold,  and  much 
inferior  in  quality  to  that  of  the  Nile.  Chateaubriand, 
again,  who  measured  it  in  several  places,  reports  that  it 
was  about  fifty  feet  in  breadth,  and  six  feet  deep  close  to 
the  shore, — a  discrepancy  which  must  arise  from  the  period 
of  the  year  when  it  was  seen  by  these  distinguished 
writers.* 

The  Old  Testament  abounds  with  allusions  to  the  swell¬ 
ings  of  Jordan  ;  but  at  present,  whether  the  current  has 
deepened  its  channel,  or  whether  the  climate  is  less  moist 
than  in  former  days,  this  occurrence  is  seldom  witnessed, — 
the  river  has  forgotten  its  ancient  greatness.  Maundrell 
could  discern  no  sign  or  probability  of  such  overflowings  ; 
for  although  he  was  there  on  the  30th  of  March, — the 
proper  season  of  the  inundation, — the  river  was  running 
two  yards  at  least  under  the  level  of  its  banks.  The  mar¬ 
gin  of  the  stream,  however,  continues  as  of  old  to  be  closely 
covered  with  a  natural  forest  of  tamarisk,  willows,  oleanders, 
and  similar  trees,  and  to  afford  a  retreat  to  several  species 
of  wild  beasts.  Hence  the  fine  metaphor  of  the  prophet 
Jeremiah,  who  assimilates  an  enraged  enemy  to  a  lion 
coming  up  “from  the  swellings  of  Jordan,”  driven  from  his 
lair  by  the  annual  flood,  and  compelled  to  seek  shelter  in 
the  surrounding  desert. 

Jericho,  which  is  at  present  a  miserable  village  inhabited 
by  half-naked  Arabs,  derives  all  its  importance  from  history. 
It  was  the  first  city  which  the  Israelites  reduced  upon  en¬ 
tering  the  Holy  Land.  Five  hundred  and  thirty  years 
afterward  it  was  rebuilt  by  Heliel  of  Bethel,  who  succeeded 
in  restoring  its  population,  its  splendour,  and  its  commerce ; 
in  which  flourishing  condition  it  appears  to  have  continued 
during  several  centuries.  Mark  Antony,  in  the  pride  of 
power,  presented  to  Cleopatra  the  whole  territory  of  Jericho. 
Vespasian,  in  the  course  of  the  sanguinary  war  which  he 
prosecuted  in  Judea,  sacked  its  walls,  and  put  its  inhabit¬ 
ants  to  the  sword.  Re-established  by  Adrian  in  the  138th 
year  of  our  faith,  it  was  doomed  at  no  distant  era  to  expe¬ 
rience  new  disasters.  It  was  again  repaired  by  the  Chris- 

*  The  reading  in  Hasselquist  must  be  eighteen  instead  of  eight,  or 
eight  fathoms,  instead  of  feet,  for  Mr.  Maundrell  remarks  that  the  breadth 
of  the  river  “might  be  about  twenty  yards  over,  and  in  depth  it  far 
exceeded  my  height.” — Journey,  p.  83. 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


191 


tians,  who  made  it  the  seat  of  a  bishop  ;  but  in  the  twelfth 
century  it  was  overthrown  by  the  infidels,  and  has  not  since 
emerged  from  its  ruins.  Of  all  its  magnificent  buildings 
there  remain  only  the  part  of  one  tower,  supposed  to  be  the 
dwelling  of  Zaccheus  the  publican,  and  a  quantity  of  rubbish, 
which  is  understood  to  mark  the  line  of  its  ancient  walls. 

Mr.  Buckingham  saw  reason  to  believe  that  the  true  site 
of  Jericho,  as  described  by  Josephus,  was  at  a  greater  dis¬ 
tance  from  the  river  than  the  village  of  Rahhah,  commonly 
supposed  to  represent  the  City  of  Palms.  Descending  from 
the  mountains  which  bound  the  valley  on  the  western  side, 
he  observed  the  ruins  of  a  large  settlement,,  covering  at 
least  a  square  mile,  whence,  as  well  as  from  the  remains  of 
aqueducts  and  fountains,  he  was  led  to  conclude  that  it 
must  have  been  a  place  of  considerable  consequence.  Some 
of  the  more  striking  objects  among  the  wrecks  of  this  an¬ 
cient  city  were  large  tumuli,  evidently  the  work  of  art,  and 
resembling  those  of  the  Greek  and  Trojan  heroes  on  the 
plains  of  Ilium.  There  were,  besides,  portions  of  ruined 
buildings,  shafts  of  columns,  and  a  capital  of  the  Corinthian 
order ;  tokens  not  at  all  ambiguous  of  former  grandeur  and 
of  civilized  life. 

Josephus  fixes  the  position  of  Jericho  at  the  distance  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  furlongs  from  Jerusalem,  and  sixty 
from  the  river  Jordan  ;  stating  that  the  country,  as  far  as 
the  capital,  is  desert  and  hilly,  while  to  the  shores  of  the 
Lake  Asphaltites  it  is  low,  though  equally  waste  and  un¬ 
fruitful.  Nothing  can  apply  more  accurately,  in  all  its 
particulars,  than  this  description  does  to  the  ruins  just 
mentioned.  The  spot  lies  at  the  very  foot  of  the  sterile 
mountains  of  Judea,  which  may  be  said  literally  to  over¬ 
hang  it  on  the  west ;  and  these  ridges  are  still  as  barren, 
as  rugged,  and  as  destitute  of  inhabitants  as  formerly, 
throughout  their  whole  extent,  from  the  Lake  of  Tiberias 
to  the  Dead  Sea.  The  distance,  by  the  computation  in 
time,  amounted  to  six  hours,  or  nearly  twenty  miles,  from 
Jerusalem  ;  the  space  between  the  supposed  city  and  the 
river  being  little  more  than  one-third  of  that  amount,  the 
precise  proportion  indicated  by  the  Jewish  historian. 

The  soil  round  Jericho  was  long  celebrated,  for  a  precious 
balsam,  which  used  to  be  sold  for  double  its  weight  of  silver. 
The  historian  Justin  relates,  that  the  trees  from  which  it 


192 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


exudes  bear  a  resemblance  to  firs,  though  they  are  lower, 
and  are  cultivated  after  the  manner  of  vines.  He  adds, 
that  the  wealth  of  the  Jewish  nation  arises  from  their  pro¬ 
duce,  as  they  grow  in  no  other  part  of  Syria.  At  present, 
however,  there  is  not  a  tree  of  any  description,  either  palm 
or  balsam,  to  be  seen  near  the  site  of  this  deserted  town ; 
but  it  is  admitted,  that  the  complete  desolation  with  which 
its  ruins  are  invested  ought  to  be  attributed  to  the  cessation 
of  industry  rather  than  to  any  perceptible  change  either  in 
the  climate  or  the  soil. 

Rahhah  stands  about  four  miles  nearer  the  river,  or 
about  half-way  between  the  assumed  position  of  Jericho 
and  the  bank  of  the  current.  It  consists  of  about  fifty 
dwellings,  all  very  mean  in  their  appearance,  and  every  one 
fenced  in  front  with  thorny  bushes ;  one  of  the  most  effectual 
defences  that  could  be  raised  against  the  incursions  of  the 
Bedouins,  whose  horses  will  not  approach  these  formidable 
thickets.  The  inhabitants,  without  exception,  are  professed 
believers  in  the  creed  of  Islamism.  Their  habits  are  *hose 
of  shepherds  rather  than  of  cultivators  of  the  soil  g  this  last 
duty,  indeed,  when  performed  at  all,  being  done  chiefly  by 
the  women  and  children,  as  the  men  roam  the  plam;  on 
horseback,  and  derive  the  principal  means  of  subfjstf 
from  robbery  and  plunder.  They  are  governed  by  a 
whose  influence  among  them  is  more  ii..  TnJuvrty  of 
a  father  over  his  children  than  that  of  «.  rn  agist  io  and 

who  is,  moreover,  checked  in  the  exercise  of  hi"  wer,  by 
the  knowledge  that  he  would  instantly  ba  deprived  of  life 
and  station  were  he  to  exceed  the  bounds  which,  in  all  rudo 
countries,  are  opposed  even  to  the  caprices  of  despotism. 
It  is  remarkable  that  the  name  of  this  village  corresponds 
to  Rahab,  the  name  of  the  hostess  who  received  into  her 
house  the  Hebrew  spies,  and  signifies  odour  or  perfume  ; 
the  slight  change  on  the  form  of  the  Arabic  term  implying 
no  difference  in  the  import  of  the  root  whence  they  are 
both  originally  derived. 

The  mountains  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Jordan  are 
more  lofty  than  those  which  skirt  the  Vale  of  Jericho,  being 
not  less  than  2000  feet  in  height.  From  the  summit  of  a 
towering  peak,  which  the  traveller  still  delights  to  recog¬ 
nise,  Moses  was  permitted  to  behold  the  promised  inherit¬ 
ance,  stretching  towards  the  west,  the  south,  and  the  north, 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


193 


- — “  All  the  land  of  Gilead  unto  Dan,  and  all  Naphtali,  and 
the  land  of  Ephraim,  and  Manasseh,  and  all  the  land  of 
Judah  unto  the  utmost  sea,  and  the  south,  and  the  plain  of 
the  Valley  of  Jericho,  the  city  of  palm-trees,  unto  Zoar. 
And  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  this  is  the  land  which  I  sware 
unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  saying,  I  will 
give  it  unto  thy  seed  :  I  have  caused  thee  to  see  it  w  ith 
thine  eyes,  but  thou  shalt  not  go  over  thither.  So  Moses, 
the  servant  of  the  Lord,  died  there,  in  the  land  of  Moab, 
according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord.  And  he  buried  him  in 
a  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab,  over  against  Beth-peor :  but 
no  man  knoweth  of  his  sepulchre  unto  this  day.”* 

The  road  from  Jericho  to  Jerusalem  presents  some  his¬ 
torical  reminiscences  of  the  most  interesting  nature.  When 
entering  the  mountains  which  protect  the  western  side  of 
the  plain,  the  attention  of  the  traveller  is  invited  to  the 
Fountain  of  Elisha,  the  waters  of  which  were  sweetened 
by  the  power  of  the  prophet.  The  men  of  Jericho  repre¬ 
sented  to  him  that  though  the  situation  of  the  town  was 
'  pleasant,  “the  water  was  naught,  and  the  ground  barren. 

. ■  And  Be  said,  br-ing  me  a  new  cruse,  and  put  salt  therein  : 
and  they  brought  fit  to  him.  And  he  went  forth  unto  the 
°f  the? waters1,  and  cast  the  salt  in  there,  and  said, 
'".aus  sSith  ther  LscJ,  I  have  healed  these  waters  ;  there  shall 
:  no-tfi;^  ’  Ace  any  more  death  or  barren  land.  So  the 
^  -fg'wefe  neaftd  unto  this  day,  according  to  the  saying 
of  Elis:  which  he  spake.”! 

Its  waters  are  at  present  received  in  a  basin  about  nine 
or  ten  paces  long,  and  five  or  six  broad  ;  and  from  thence, 
issuing  out  in  good  plenty*,  divide  themselves  into  several 
small  streams,  dispersing  their  refreshment  to  all  the  land 
as  far  as  Jericho,  and  rendering  it  exceedingly  fruitful.  Ad¬ 
vancing  into  the  savage  country  through  which  the  usual 
road  to  the  capital  is  formed,  the  tourist  soon  finds  himself 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  called  Quarantina,  from  being 
the  supposed  scene  of  the  temptation  and  fast  of  forty  days 
endured  by  our  Saviour,  who, 

- “  looking  round  on  every  side,  beheld 

A  pathless  desert  dusk  with  horrid  shades : 


*  Deut.  xxxiv.  1-7. 


R 


t  2  Kings  ii.  19-23. 


194 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


The  way  he  came  not  having  marked,  return 
Was  difficult,  by  human  steps  untrod ; 

And  he  still  on  was  led,  but  with  such  thoughts 
Accompanied  of  things  past  and  to  come 
Lodg’d  in  his  breast,  as  well  might  recommend 
Such  solitude  before  choicest  society.* 

The  neighbourhood  of  this  lofty  eminence  is,  according 
to  Mr.  Maundrell,  a  dry,  miserable,  barren  place  ;  consist¬ 
ing  of  high  rocky  mountains,  so  torn  and  disordered,  “  as 
if  the  earth  had  here  suffered  some  great  convulsion,  in 
which  its  very  bowels  had  been  turned  outward.”  In  a  deep 
valley  are  seen  the  ruins  of  small  cells  and  cottages,  thought 
to  be  the  remains  of  those  sequestered  habitations  to  which 
hermits  were  wont  to  retire  for  the  uses  of  penance  and 
mortification  ;  and  it  is  remarked  that,  in  the  whole  earth,  a 
more  comfortless  and  desert  place  could  not  have  been 
selected  for  so  pious  a  purpose.  From  these  hills  of  deso¬ 
lation,  however,  there  is  obtained  a  magnificent  prospect 
of  the  Plain  of  Jericho,  the  Dead  Sea,  and  of  the  distant 
summits  of  Arabia ;  for  which  reason  the  highest  of  the 
group  has  been  assigned  by  tradition  as  the  very  spot  whence 
all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  were  seen  in  a  moment  of 
time.  It  is,  as  St.  Matthew  styles  it,  an  exceeding  high 
mountain,  and  in  its  ascent  not  only  difficult  but  dangerous. 
It  has  a  small  chapel  at  the  top,  and  another  about  half-way 
down,  founded  upon  a  projecting  part  of  the  rock.  Near 
the  latter  are  observed  several  caves  and  holes,  excavated 
by  the  solitaries,  who  thought  it  the  most  suitable  place  for 
undergoing  the  austerities  of  Lent, — a  practice  which  has 
not  even  at  the  present  day  fallen  altogether  into  disuse. 
Hasselquist  describes  the  path  as  “  dangerous  beyond 
imagination.  I  went  as  far  up  on  this  terrible  mountain 
of  Temptation  as  prudence  would  admit,  but  ventured  not 
to  go  to  the  top  ;  whither  I  sent  my  servant,  to  bring  what 
natural  curiosities  he  could  find,  while  I  gathered  what 
plants  and  insects  I  could  find  below. ”f 

Mariti,  whose  religious  zeal  was  fanned  into  a  temporary 
flame,  ascended  the  formidable  steep  as  far  as  the  grottoes, 
which  he  delineates  with  much  minuteness.  He  pronounces 

*  Paradise  Regained,  Book  I.  v.  295,  &o. 

+  Among  these  he  found,  with  great  delight,  a  very  curious  new  cimex 
or  bug ,  p.  129. 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM. 


195 


the  chapel  inaccessible  from  the  side  on  which  he  stood,  and 
is  very  doubtful  whether  it  could  now  be  approached  on  any 
quarter,  the  ancient  road  being  so  much  neglected.  But  it 
should  seem  that  most  travellers  are  smitten  with  the  feel¬ 
ing  which  seized  the  breast  of  Maundrell,  although  they 
all  have  not  the  candour  to  acknowledge  it.  Alluding  to 
the  Arabs,  who  demanded  a  sum  of  money  for  liberty  to 
ascend,  he  says,  “  we  departod  without  further  trouble,  not 
a  little  glad  to  have  so  good  an  excuse  for  not  climbing  so 
dangerous  a  precipice.”* 

The  imagination  of  Milton  has  thrown  a  captivating 
splendour  around  this  scene,  which,  at  the  same  time,  he 
appears  to  have  transferred  to  the  mountain-range  beyond 
the  Jordan  in  the  country  of  the  Moabites. 

“  Thus  wore  out  night ;  and  now  the  herald  lark 
Left  his  ground-nest,  high  towering  to  descry 
The  morn's  approach,  and  greet  her  with  his  song : 

As  lightly  from  his  grassy  couch  up  rose 
Our  Saviour,  and  found  all  was  but  a  dream ; 

Fasting  he  went  to  sleep,  and  fasting  waked. 

Up  to  a  hill  anon  his  steps  he  reared, 

From  whose  high  top  to  ken  the  prospect  round, 

If  cottage  were  in  view,  sheepcote,  or  herd  ; 

But  cottage,  herd,  or  sheepcote,  none  he  saw ; 

Only  in  a  bottom  saw  a  pleasant  grove, 

With  chant  of  tuneful  birds  resounding  loud : 

Thither  he  bent  his  way  ;  determined  there 
To  rest  at  noon,  and  entered  soon  the  shade 
High  roofed,  and  walks  beneath,  and  alleys  brown, 

That  opened  in  the  midst  a  woody  scene.”! 

Leavingthe  Quarantina  with  its  dreary  scenes  and  solemn 
recollections,  the  pilgrim  returning  from  the  Jordan  finds 
himself  on  a  beaten  path  which,  since  the  days  of  Moses, 
it  is  probable  has  connected  the  rocks  of  Salem  with  the 
banks  of  the  sacred  river.  Chateaubriand  informs  us  that 
it  is  broad,  and  in  some  parts  paved  ;  having  undergone,  as 
he  conjectures,  several  improvements  while  the  country  was 
in  possession  of  the  Romans.  On  the  top  of  a  mountain 
there  is  the  appearance  of  a  castle,  which,  we  may  con¬ 
clude,  was  meant  to  protect  and  command  the  road  ;  and 
at  a  little  distance,  in  the  bottom  of  a  deep  gloomy  valley 
is  the  Place  of  Blood,  called  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  Abdomim, 

*  Journey,  p.  80.  f  Paradise  Regained,  Book  II.  v.  281. 


196 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


where  once  stood  a  small  town  belonging  to  the  tribe  of 
Judah,  and  where  the  good  Samaritan  is  imagined  to  have 
succoured  the  wounded  traveller  who  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  thieves.  That  sombre  dell  is  still  entitled  to  its 
horrible  distinction ;  it  is  still  the  place  of  blood,  of  rob¬ 
bery,  and  of  murder;  the  most  dangerous  pass  for  him  who 
undertakes  to  go  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho. 

As  a  proof  of  this,  we  may  shortly  mention  an  assault 
which  was  made  upon  Sir  F.  Henniker,  who  a  few  years 
ago  resolved  to  accomplish  that  perilous  journey.  “  The 
route  is  over  hills,  rocky,  barren,  and  uninteresting.  We 
arrived  at  a  fountain,  and  here  my  two  attendants  paused 
to  refresh  themselves  ;  the  day  was  so  hot  that  I  was  anx¬ 
ious  to  finish  the  journey,  and  hasten  forwards.  A  ruined 
building,  situated  on  the  summit  of  a  hill,  was  now  within 
sight,  and  I  urged  my  horse  towards  it ;  the  janizary  gal¬ 
loped  by  me,  and  making  signs  for  me  not  to  precede  him, 
he  himself  rode  into  and  round  the  building,  and  then 
motioned  me  to  advance.  We  next  came  to  a  hill,  through 
the  very  apex  of  which  has  been  cut  a  passage,  the  rocks 
overhanging  it  on  either  side.  I  was  in  the  act  of  passing 
through  this  ditch  when  a  bullet  whizzed  by  close  to  my 
head.  I  saw  no  one,  and  had  scarcely  time  to  think  when 
another  was  fired,  some  short  distance  in  advance.  I  could 
yet  see  no  one  ;  the  janizary  was  beneath  the  brow  of  the 
hill  in  his  descent.  I  looked  back,  but  my  servant  was  not 
^yet  within  sight.  I  looked  up,  and  within  a  few  inches  of 
my  head  were  three  muskets,  and  three  men  taking  aim  at 
me.  Escape  or  resistance  was  alike  impossible.  I  got  off  my 
horse.  Eight  men  jumped  down  from  the  rocks,  and  com¬ 
menced  a  scramble  for  me. — As  he  (the  janizary)  passed,  I 
caught  at  a  rope  hanging  from  his  saddle  ;  I  had  hoped  to 
leap  upon  his  horse,  but  fkund  myself  unable  ;  my  feet 
were  dreadfully  lacerated  ^y  the  honeycombed  rocks  ; 
nature  would  support  me  no  longer ;  I  fell,  but  still  clung 
to  the  rope ;  in  this  manner  I  was  drawn  some  few  yards, 
till,  bleeding  from  my  ankle  to  my  shoulder,  I  resigned  my¬ 
self  to  my  fate.  As  soon  as  I  stood  up  one  of  my  pursuers 
took  aim  at  me  ;  but  the  other,  casually  advancing  between 
us,  prevented  his  firing.  He  then  ran  up,  and  with  his 
sword  aimed  such  a  blow  as  would  not  have  required  a 
second :  his  companion  prevented  its  full  effect,  so  that  it 


south  and  East  of  Jerusalem. 


m 


merely  cut  my  ear  in  halves,  ,nd  laid  open  one  side  of  my 
lace  :  they  then  stripped  me  naked.”*  * 

It  is  impossible  not  to  suspect  that  the  depraved  govern¬ 
ment  at  Jerusalem  connives  at  such  instance*  of  violence  in 
order  to  give  some  value  to  the  protection  which  tKev  sell  at 
a  very  dear  rate  to  Christian  travellers.  The  administra¬ 
tion  of  Mohammed  Ali  would  be  a  blessing  to  Palestine 
inasmuch  as  it  would  soon  render  the  intercourse  between 
the  capital  and  the  -Dead  Sea  as  safe  as  that  between  Alex¬ 
andria  and  Grand  Cairo. 

Refreshing  himselt  at  the  fountain  where  our  Lord  and 
his  apostles,  according  to  a  venerable  tradition,  were  wont 
to  rest  on  their  journey  to  the  holy  city.  the  tourist  sets  his 
heart  on  revisiting  the  saered  remains  of  ^at  decayed  me_ 

tropolis.  When  at  the  summit  of  the  Moult-  0f  Olives  he 
is  again  struck  with  the  mixture  of  magnificent^  ^ 

which  marks  the  queen  of  nations  in  her  widoweo  ^tate 
Owing  to  the  clear  atmosphere  and  the  absence  of  sm.,.R‘ 
the  view  is  so  distinct  that  one  might  count  the  separate 
houses.  The  streets  are  tolerably  regular,  straight,  and 
well  paved ;  but  they  are  narrow  and  dull,  and  almost  all 
on  a  declivity.  The  fronts  of  the  houses,  which  are  gene¬ 
rally  two  or  three  stories  high,  are  quite  plain,  simply  con¬ 
structed  of  stone,  without  the  least  ornament ;  so  that  in 
walking  past  them  a  stranger  might  fancy  himself  in  the 
galleries  of  a  vast  prison.  The  windows  are  very  few  and 
extremely  small ;  and,  by  a  singular  whim,  the  doors  are  so 
low  that  it  is  commonly  requisite  to  bend  the  body  nearly 
double  in  order  to  enter  them.  Some  families  have  gardens 
of  moderate  dimensions  ;  but,  upon  the  whole,  the  ground 
within  the  walls  is  fully  occupied  with  buildings,  if  we  ex¬ 
cept  the  vast  enclosures  in  which  are  placed  the  mosques  and 
churches. 

There  is  not  observed  at  Jerusalem  any  square,  properly 
so  called  ;  the  shops  and  markets  are  universally  opened  in 
the  public  streets.  Provisions  are  said  to  be  abundant  and 
cheap,  including  excellent  men*,  vegetables,  and  fruit. 
Water  is  supplied  by  the  atmosphere,  and  preserved  in  ca¬ 
pacious  cisterns  ;  nor  is  it  necessary,  except  when  a  long 
drought  has  exhausted  the  usual  stock,  that  the  inhabitants 
should  have  recourse  to  the  spring  near  the  brook  Kedron. 

*  A  Visit  to  Egypt,  <fcc.  p.  265. 


198 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


Rice  is  much  used  for  food  *  out  as  the  country  is  quite  un¬ 
suited  *to  the  production  of  that  aquatic  gram,  it  is  imported 
from  fhjypt  in  return  for  oil,  the  staple  of  Palestine. 

Therl  is  a  great  diversity  of  costume,  everybody  adopting 
that  which  he  likes  best,  whether  Arab,  Syrian,  or  Turk ; 
but  the  lower  order  of  people  generally  wear  a  shirt  fastened 
round  the  waist  with  a  girdle,  after  the  example  of  their 
neighbours  in  the  desert.  Ah  Bey  remarks,  that  he  saw 
very  few  handsome  females  in  the  metropolis  ;  on  the  con¬ 
trary  they  had  in  general  that  bilious  appearance  so  common 

in  the  East _ a  pale  citron  colour,  or  a  dead  yellow,  like 

paper  or  plirter,  and,  wearing  a  while  fillet  round  the  cir¬ 
cumference  of  the?  faces,  they  hare  not  unfrequently  the 
a  pearanee  of-'d,^nS  corpses.  The  children,  however,  are 
much  heablier  ant^  Prettier  than  those  of  Arabia  and  Egypt. 

rpjip  .mristians  and  Jews  wear,  as  a  mark  of  distinction,  a 
curban.  The  villagers  and  shepherds  use  white  ones, 
a  striped  like  those  of  the  Moslem.  The  Christian  women 
appear  in  public  with  their  faces  uncovered,  as  they  do  in 
Europe. 

The  arts  are  cultivated  to  a  certain  extent,  but  the  sci¬ 
ences  have  entirely  disappeared.  There  existed  formerly 
large  schools  belonging  to  the  haram  ;  but  there  are  hardly 
any  traces  of  them  left,  if  their  place  be  not  supplied  by  a 
few  small  seminaries  where  children  of  every  form  of  wor¬ 
ship  learn  to  read  and  write  the  code  of  their  respective  re¬ 
ligion.  The  grossest  ignorance  prevails  even  among  per¬ 
sons  of  high  rank,  who,  on  the  first  interview,  appear  to 
havfi  received  a  liberal  education.* 

The  Arabic  language  is  generally  spoken  at  Jerusalem, 
tAough  the  Turkish  is  much  used  among  the  better  class. 
The  inhabitants  are  composed  of  people  of  different  nations 
and  different  religions,  who  inwardly  despise  one  another 
on  account  of  their  varying  opinions  ;  but  as  the  Christians 
are  very  numerous,  there  reigns  among  the  whole  no  small 
degree  of  complaisance,  as  well  as  an  unrestrained  inter¬ 
course  in  matters  of  business,  amusement,  and  even  of 
religion.  + 

*  Travels  of  Ali  Bey,  vol.  ii.  p.  251. 

t  The  Mussulmans  say  prayers  in  all  the  holy  places  consecrated  to 
the  memory  o'  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Virgin  except  the  Tomb  of  the  Holy 
Sepu’chre,  which  they  do  not  acknowledge.  They  believe  that  Jesus 
Cbist  <*d  not  die,  but  that  he  ascended  alive  into  heaven,  leaving  the 


SOUTH  AND  EAST  OF  JERUSALEM.  199 

It  is  well  remarked  by  Chateaubriand,  who  had  travelled 
among  the  native  tribes  of  North  America  as  extensively  as 
among  the  Arabs  of  the  Syrian  wilderness,  that  amid  the 
rudeness  of  the  latter  you  still  perceive  a  certain  degree  of 
delicacy  in  their  manners  ;  you  see  that  they  are  natives  of 
that  East  which  is  the  cradle  of  all  the  arts,  all  the  sciences, 
all  the  religions.  Buried  at  the  extremity  of  the  West,  the 
Canadian  inhabits  valleys  shaded  by  eternal  forests  and 
watered  by  immense  rivers  ;  the  Arab,  cast,  as  it  were,  upon 
the  high  road  of  the  world  between  Africa  and  Asia,  roves 
in  the  brilliant  regions  of  Aurora  over  a  soil  without  trees 
and  without  water. 

The  Jews— the  children  of  the  kingdom — have  been  cast 
out,  and  many  have  come  from  the  east  and  the  west  to  oc¬ 
cupy  their  place  in  the  desolate  land  promised  to  their  fathers. 
They  usually  take  up  their  abode  in  the  narrow  space  be¬ 
tween  the  Temple  and  the  foot  of  Mount  Zion,  defended 
from  the  tyranny  of  their  Turkish  masters  by  their  indigence 
and  misery.  Here  they  appear  covered  with  rags,  and  sit¬ 
ting  in  the  dust,  with  their  eyes  fixed  on  the  ruins  of  their 
ancient  sanctuary.  It  has  been  observed  that  those  descend¬ 
ants  of  Abraham  who  come  from  foreign  countries  to  fix 
their  residence  at  Jerusalem  live  but  a  short  time ;  while 
such  as  are  natives  of  Palestine  are  so  wretchedly  poor  as 
to  be  obliged  to  send  every  year  to  raise  contributions 
among  their  brethren  of  Egypt  and  Barbary.* 

The  picture  given  by  I)r.  Richardson  is  much  more  flat¬ 
tering.  He  assures  his  readers  that  many  of  the  Jews  are 
rich  and  in  comfortable  circumstances  ;  but  that  they  are 
careful  to  conceal  their  wealth,  and  even  their  comfort,  from 
the  jealous  eye  of  their  rulers,  lest,  by  awakening  their  cu¬ 
pidity,  some  plot  of  robbery  or  murder  should  be  devised. 
The  whole  population  has  been  estimated  by  different  trav¬ 
ellers  as  amounting  to  from  fifteen  to  thirty  thousand,  con¬ 
sisting  of  Mohammedans,  Jews,  and  the  various  sects  of 
Christians. 

likeness  of  his  face  to  Judas,  who  was  condemned  to  die  for  him ;  and 
that,  in  consequence,  Judas  having  been  crucified,  his  body  might  have 
been  contained  in  this  sepulchre,  but  not  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  for 
this  reason  that  the  Mussulmans  do  not  perform  any  act  of  devotion  at 
this  monument,  and  that  they  ridicule  the  Christians  who  go  to  revere 
it. — Ali  Bey,  vol.  ii.  p.  237. 

*  Chateaubriand.  Ilinfcraire,  tom  ji.  p.  169. 


200 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Description  of  the  Country  Northward  of  Jerusalem * 

Grotto  of  Jeremiah — Sepulchres  of  the  Kings — Singular  Doors — Village 
of  Leban — Jacob’s  Well — Valley  of  Shechem — Nablous — Samaritans 
— Sebaste  —  Jennin — Gilead  —  Geraza,  or  Djerash — Description  of 
Ruins — Gergasha  of  the  Hebrews — Rich  Scenery  of  Gilead — River 
Jabbok — Souf— Ruins  of  Gamala—  Magnificent  Theatre — Gadara — 
Capernaum,  or  Talhewm — Sea  of  Galilee — Bethsaida  and  Chorazin — 
Tarachea — Sumuk — Tiberias — Description  of  modern  Town — House 
of  Peter — Baths — University — Mount  Tor,  or  Tabor — Description  by 
Pococke,  Maundrell,  Burckhardt,  and  Doubdan — View  from  the  Top 
— Great  Plain — Nazareth — Church  of  Annunciation — Workshop  of 
Joseph — Mount  of  Precipitation — Table  of  Christ— Cana,  or  Refer 
Kenna — Waterpots  of  Stone — Saphet,  or  Szaffad — University — French 
“-Sidney  Smith — Dan — Sepphoris— Church  of  St.  Anne — Description 
by  Dr.  Clarke — Vale  of  Zabulon — Vicinity  of  Acre. 

Upon  leaving  the  northern  gate  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  road 
which  leads  to  Damascus,  there  is  seen  a  large  grotto  much 
venerated  by  Christians,  Turks,  and  Jews,  said  to  have  been 
for  some  time  the  residence,  or  rather  the  prison,  of  the 
prophet  Jeremiah.  The  bed  of  the  holy  man  is  shown,  in 
the  form  of  a  rocky  shelf,  about  eight  feet  from  the  ground  ; 
and  the  spot  is  likewise  pointed  out  on  which  he  is  under¬ 
stood  to  have  written  his  book  of  Lamentations.  In  the 
days  of  Maundrell,  this  excavation  was  occupied  by  a  col¬ 
lege  of  dervises. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  Sepulchres  of  the  Kings, 
as  very  singular  remains  of  ancient  architecture,  and  stand¬ 
ing  at  a  little  distance  from  the  city.  There  still  prevails 
some  obscurity  in  regard  to  the  origin  and  intention  of  these 
places  of  burial,  occasioned  chiefly  by  the  fact  recorded  in 
Holy  Scripture,  that  the  tombs  of  the  kings  of  Judah  were 
on  Mount  Zion.  Pococke  held  the  opinion,  that  they  de¬ 
rived  their  name  from  Helena,  the  queen  of  Adiabene, 
whose  body  was  deposited  in  a  cave  outside  the  northern 
wall  of  Jerusalem  ;  a  conclusion  which  derives  some  coun¬ 
tenance  from  the  language  of  Josephus,  and  has  been 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


201 


adopted  by  Dr.  Clarke.  M.  de  Chateaubriand,  on  the  con¬ 
trary,  supposes  these  grottoes  to  have  been  appropriated  to 
the  family  of  Herod ;  and  in  support  of  his  views  quotes  a 
passage  from  the  Jewish  historian,  who,  speaking  of  the 
wall  which  Titus  erected  to  press  Jerusalem  still  more 
closely  than  before,  says,  that  “  this  wall,  returning  towards 
the  north,  enclosed  the  sepulchre  of  Herod.”  Now  this, 
adds  the  Frenchman,  is  the  situation  of  the  royal  caverns. 

But  whoever  was  buried  here,  this  is  certain,  to  use  the 
words  of  the  accurate  Maundrell,  that  the  place  itself  dis¬ 
covers  so  great  an  expense  both  of  labour  and  treasure,  that 
we  may  well  suppose  it  to  have  been  the  work  of  kings. 
You  approach  it  on  the  east  side  through  an  entrance  cut 
out  of  the  rock,  which  admits  you  into  an  open  court  of 
about  forty  paces  square.  On  the  south  side  is  a  portico 
nine  paces  long  and  four  broad,  likewise  hewn  out  of  the 
natural  rock,  and  having  an  architrave  running  along  its 
front  adorned  with  sculpture  of  fruits  and  flowers.  The 
passage  into  the  sepulchre  is  now  so  greatly  obstructed  with 
stones  and  rubbish  that  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  creep  through ; 
but  having  overcome  this  difficulty  you  arrive  at  a  large 
room,  seven  or  eight  yards  square,  excavated  in  the  solid 
body  of  the  hill.  Its  sides  and  ceiling  are  so  exactly  square, 
and  its  angles  so  just,  that  no  architect  could  form  a  more 
regular  apartment ;  while  the  whole  is  so  firm  and  entire, 
that  it  resembles  a  chamber  hollowed  out  of  one  piece  of 
marble.  From  this  room  you  pass  into  six  others,  all  of  the 
same  construction ;  the  two  innermost  being  somewhat 
deeper  than  the  rest,  and  are  descended  to  by  a  certain 
number  of  steps. 

In  every  one  of  these,  except  the  first,  were  coffin*  °f 
stone  placed  in  niches  formed  in  the  sides  of  the  chamber. 
They  had  at  first  been  covered  •with  handsome  lids  i  but  the 
most  of  them  have  been  long  broken  to  pieces  and  either 
scattered  about  the  apartment,  or  entirely  removed.  One 
of  white  marble  was  observed  by  Dr.  fYarke,  adorned  all 
over  with  the  richest  and  most  beautlU^  carving ;  though, 
like  all  the  other  sculptured  wrork  m  the  tombs,  it  repre¬ 
sented  nothing  of  the  human  ft$ure5  nor  °f  any  living  thing, 
but  consisted  entirely  of  foliage  and  flowers,  and  principally 
of  the  leaves  and  branc*es  of  the  vine.  The  receptacles 
for  the  dead  bodies  not  much  larger  than  European 


202  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

coffins  ;  but,  having  the  more  regular  form  of  parallelograms* 
they  thereby  differ  from  the  usual  appearance  presented  in 
the  sepulchral  crypts  of  the  country,  where  the  soros  is  of 
considerable  size,  and  generally  resembles  a  cistern.  The 
taste  manifested  in  the' interior  of  these  chambers  seems 
also  to  denote  a  later  period  in  the  history  of  the  arts ;  the 
skill  and  neatness  visible  in  the  carving  is  admirable,  and 
there  is  much  of  ornament  displayed  in  several  parts  of  the 
work. 

But  the  most  surprising  thing  belonging  to  these  subter¬ 
ranean  chambers  is  their  doors ;  of  which,  when  Mr. 
Maundrell  visited  Jerusalem,  there  was  still  one  remaining. 
“  It  consisted,”  says  he,  “of  a  plank  of  stone  of  about  six 
inches  in  thickness,  and  in  its  other  dimensions  equalling 
the  size  of  an  ordinary  door,  or  somewhat  less.  It  was 
carved  in  such  a  manner  as  to  resemble  a  piece  of  wain¬ 
scot  :  the  stone  of  which  it  was  made  was  visibly  of  the 
same  kind  with  the  whole  rock ;  and  it  turned  upon  two 
hinges  in  the  nature  of  axles.  These  hinges  were  of  the 
same  entire  piece  of  stone  with  the  door,  and  were  con¬ 
tained  in  two  holes  of  the  immoveable  rock,  one  at  the  top 
and  another  at  the  bottom.* 

We  are  informed  by  Dr.  Clarke,  that  the  same  sort  of 
contrivance  is  to  be  found  among  the  sepulchres  at  Tel- 
messus ;  and,  moreover,  that  the  ancients  had  the  art  of 
being  able  to  close  these  doors  in  such  a  manner  that  no 
one  could  have  access  to  the  tomb  who  was  not  acquainted 
with  the  secret  method  of  opening  them,  unless  by  violating 
the  abode  of  the  dead,  and  forcing  a  passage  through  the 
stone.  This  has  been  done  in  several  instances  at  the  place 
just  named  ;  but  the  doors,  though  broken,  still  remain 
clostq  with  their  hinges  unimpaired. f 

In  pirsuing  the  road  to  Nablous,  the  ancient  Shechem, 

*  Journey,  p. 

t  Pausaniua,  des,rjbjng  t^e  sepUichre  0f  Helena  at  Jerusalem,  men¬ 
tions  this  device  :  “  i.was  so  contrived  that  the  door  of  the  sepulchre, 
which  was  of  stone,  ana  -jmiiar  jn  ap  respects  to  the  sepulchre  itself, 
could  never  be  opened  excey*  Up0n  the  return  of  the  same  day  and  hour 
m  each  succeeding  year.  It  t.en  0pene(i  0f  itself  by  means  of  the  me¬ 
chanism  alone,  and  after  a  short  'interval  closed  again.  Such  was  the 
case  at  the  time  stated  ;  had  you  t  .■  to  open  it  at  any  other  time,  you 
would  not  have  succeeded,  but  broken -4  first  in  the  attempt.”  Paus.  in 
Arcad.  cap.  xvi. — Clarke's  Travels ,  vol.  p  393, 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


203 


the  first  village  which  meets  the  eye  of  the  traveller  is  Beer, 
so  named  from  the  well  or  spring  where  the  wayfaring  man 
stops  to  quench  his  thirst.  The  inhabitants,  who  appear 
to  be  chiefly  Arabs,  are  in  the  greatest  poverty,  oppressed 
and  alarmed  by  the  incessant  demands  of  their  Turkish 
rulers.  It  is  the  Michmash  of  Scripture,  celebrated  as  the 
place  whither  Jotham  fled  from  the  anger  of  his  brother 
Abimelech.  It  presents,  too,  the  remains  of  an  old  church, 
erected,  as  tradition  reports,  by  the  pious  Helena,  on  the 
spot  where  the  Virgin  sat  down  to  bewail  the  absence  of 
her  son,  who  had  tarried  behind  in  Jerusalem  to  commune 
with  the  doctors  in  the  Temple. 

Beyond  this  interesting  hamlet,  at  the  distance  of  about 
four  hours,  is  Leban,  called  Lebonah  in  the  Bible,  a  village 
situated  on  the  eastern  side  of  a  delicious  vale.  The  road 
between  these  two  places  is  carried  through  a  wild  and  very 
hilly  country,  destitute  of  trees  or  other  marks  of  cultiva¬ 
tion,  and  rendered  almost  totally  unproductive  by  the  bar¬ 
barism  of  the  government.  In  a  narrow  dell,  formed  by 
two  lofty  precipices,  are  the  ruins  of  a  monastery,  being 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  that  mystic  Bethel  where  Jacob 
enjoyed  his  vision  of  heavenly  things,  and  had  his  stony 
couch  made  easy  by  the  beautiful  picture  of  ministering 
angels  ascending  and  descending  from  the  presence  of  the 
Eternal. 

The  next  object  of  interest  is  connected  with  the  name 
of  the  same  patriarch.  It  is  Jacob’s  Well, — the  scene  of 
the  memorable  conference  between  our  Saviour  and  the 
woman  of  Samaria.  Such  a  locality  was  too  important  to 
be  omitted  by  Helena  while  selecting  sites  for  Christian 
churches.  Over  it,  accordingly,  was  erected  a  large  edifice ; 
of  which,  however,  the  “  voracity  of  time,  aided  by  the 
Turks,”  has  left  nothing  but  a  few  foundations  remaining. 
Maundrell  tells  us  that  “  the  well  is  covered  at  present  with 
an  old  stone  vault,  into  which  you  are  let  down  through  a 
very  straight  hole ;  and  then  removing  a  broad  flat  stone 
you  discover  the  mouth  of  the  well  itself.  It  is  dug  in  a 
firm  rock,  and  extends  about  three  yards  in  diameter  and 
thirty-five  in  depth ;  five  of  which  we  found  full  of  water. 
This  confutes  a  story  commonly  told  to  travellers  who  do 
not  take  the  pains  to  examine  the  well,  namely,  that  it  is 
dry  all  the  year  round  except  on  the  anniversary  of  that 


204 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


day  on  which  our  Blessed  Lord  sat  upon  it ;  but  then  bub¬ 
bles  up  with  abundance  of  water.”* 

At  this  point  the  traveller  enters  the  narrow  valley  of 
Shechem,  or  Sychar,  as  it  is  termed  in  the  New  Testament, 
overhung  on  either  side  by  the  two  mountains  Gerizim  and 
Ebal.  These  eminences,  i*  is  well  known,  have  obtained 
much  celebrity  as  the  theatre  on  which  was  pronounced  the 
sanction  of  the  Divine  law — the  blessings  which  attend 
obedience,  and  the  curses  which  follow  the  violation  of  the 
heavenly  statutes.  “  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  the 
Lord  thy  God  hath  brought  thee  in  unto  the  land  whither 
thou  goest  to  possess  it,  that  thou  shalt  put  the  blessing 
upon  Mount  Gerizim,  and  the  curse  upon  Mount  Ebal. 
Are  they  not  on  the  other  side  Jordan,  by  the  way  where 
the  sun  goeth  down,  in  the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  which 
dwell  in  the  champaign  over  against  Gilgal,  beside  the  plains 
of  MorehP’t 

Every  reader  is  aware  that  the  Samaritans,  whose  prin¬ 
cipal  residence  since  the  captivity  has  been  at  Shechem, 
have  a  place  of  worship  on  Mount  Gerizim,  to  which  they 
repair  at  certain  seasons  to  perform  the  rites  of  their  reli¬ 
gion.  It  was  upon  the  same  hill,  according  to  the  reading 
in  their  version  of  the  Pentateuch,  that  the  Almighty  com¬ 
manded  the  children  of  Israel  to  set  up  great  stones  covered 
with  plaster,  on  which  to  inscribe  the  body  of  their  law  ; 
to  erect  an  altar  ;  to  offer  peace-offerings  ;  and  to  rejoice 
before  the  Lord  their  God.  In  the  Hebrew  edition  of  the 
same  inspired  books,  Mount  Ebal  is  selected  as  the  scene 
of  these  pious  services  ; — a  variation  which  the  Samaritans 
openly  ascribe  to  the  hatred  and  malignity  of  the  Jews, 
who,  they  assert,  have  in  this  passage  corrupted  the  sacred 
oracles.  In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  town  is  seen  a 
small  mosque,  which  is  said  to  cover  the  sepulchre  of 
Joseph,  and  to  be  situated  in  the  field  bought  by  Jacob 
from  Hamor,  the  father  of  Shechem,  as  is  related  in  the 
book  of  Genesis,  and  alluded  to  by  St.  John  in  the  fourth 
chapter  of  his  gospel. f 

The  road  from  Leban  to  Nablous,  or  Naplosa,  is  de- 

*  Journey,  p.  63.  f  Deut.  xi.  29,  30. 

t  “  Then  cometh  he  to  a  city  of  Samaria,  which  is  called  Sychar,  near 
to  the  parcel  of  ground  that  Jacob  gave  to  his  son  Joseph.  Now  Jacob’s 
Well  was  there. — John  iv.  5,  6. 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


205 


scribed  by  Dr.  Clarke  as  being  mountainous,  rocky,  and 
full  of  loose  stones.  Yet,  he  adds,  the  cultivation  is  every¬ 
where  marvellous  ;  affording  one  of  the  most  striking  pic¬ 
tures  of  human  industry  that  it  is  possible  to  behold.  The 
limestone  rocks  and  shingly  valleys  of  Judea  are  entirely 
covered  with  plantations  of  figs,  vines,  and  olive-trees  ;  not 
a  single  spot  seemed  to  be  neglected.  The  hills,  from  their 
bases  to  their  upmost  summits,  are  overspread  with  gar¬ 
dens  ;  all  of  them  free  from  weeds,  and  in  the  highest  state 
of  improvement.  Even  the  sides  of  the  most  barren 
mountains  have  been  rendered  fertile,  by  being  divided  into 
terraces,  like  steps  rising  one  above  another,  upon  which 
soil  has  been  accumulated  with  astonishing  labour.  A  sight 
of  this  territory  can  alone  convey  any  adequate  idea  of  its 
surprising  produce  ;  it  is  truly  the  Eden  of  the  East,  re- 
-  joicing  in  the  abundance  of  its  wealth.  The  effect  of  this 
upon  the  people  was  strikingly  portrayed  in  their  counte¬ 
nances.  Instead  of  the  depressed  and  gloomy  looks  seen 
on  the  desolated  plains  belonging  to  the  Pasha  of  Damas¬ 
cus,  health  and  hilarity  everywhere  prevailed.  Under  a 
wise  and  beneficent  government,  the  produce  of  the  Holy 
Land,  it  is  asserted,  would  exceed  all  calculation.  Its  peren¬ 
nial  harvests,  the  salubrity  of  its  air,  its  limpid  springs,  its 
rivers,  lakes,  plains,  hills,  and  vales,  added  to  the  serenity 
of  its  climate,  prove  this  land  to  be  indeed  a  “  field  which 
the  Lord  hath  blessed.”* 

The  ancient  Shechem  is  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
towns  in  the  Holy  Land,  being  still  the  metropolis  of  a 
rich  and  extensive  country,  and  abounding  in  agricultural 
wealth.  Nor  is  there  any  thing  finer  than  its  appearance 
when  viewed  from  the  heights  by  which  it  is  surrounded. 
It  strikes  the  eye  of  the  traveller  who  advances  from  the 
north,  as  being  imbosomed  in  the  most  delightful  and  fra¬ 
grant  bowers,  half-concealed  by  rich  gardens  and  stately 
trees,  collected  into  groves  all  round  the  beautiful  valley  in 
which  it  stands.  There  is  a  considerable  trade,  as  well  as 
a  flourishing  manufacture  of  soap  ;  and  the  population  has 
been  reckoned  as  high  as  ten  thousand, — an  estimate,  how¬ 
ever,  which  Mr.  Buckingham  thinks  somewhat  overrated. 
Within  the  town  are  six  mosques,  five  baths,  one  Christian 


*  Travels,  vol.  iv.  p.  284. 

s 


206  DESCRIPTION  OE  THE  COUNTRY 

church,  an  excellent  covered  bazaar  for  fine  goods,  and  an 
open  one  for  provisions,  besides  numerous  cotton-cloth 
manufactories,  and  shops  of  every  description.  The  in¬ 
habitants  are  chiefly  Mohammedans.  The  Jews,  inheriting 
their  ancient  enmity  towards  the  Samaritans,  avoid  the 
country  which  the  latter  formerly  possessed  ;  while  the 
Christians,  alienated  by  the  suspicion  of  heresy  among 
their  brethren  at  Nablous,  prefer  the  more  orthodox  assem¬ 
blies  at  Jerusalem  and  Nazareth. 

The  Samaritans  themselves  do  not  exceed  forty  in  num¬ 
ber.  They  have  a  synagogue  in  the  town,  where  they  per¬ 
form  divine  service  every  Saturday.  Four  times  a  year 
they  go  in  solemn  procession  to  the  old  temple  on  Mount 
Gerizim  ;  on  which  occasion  they  meet  before  sunrise,  and 
continue  reading  the  Law  till  noon.  On  one  of  these  days 
they  kill  six  or  seven  rams.  They  have  but  one  school 
in  Nablous  where  their  language  is  taught,  though  they 
take  much  pride  in  preserving  ancient  manuscripts  of  their 
Pentateuch  in  the  original  character.  Mr.  Connor  saw  a 
copy  which  is  reported  to  be  three  thousand  five  hundred 
years  old,  but  was  not  allowed  to  examine,  nor  even  tu 
touch  it. 

If  any  thing  connected  with  the  memory  of  past  ages  be- 
calculated  to  awaken  local  enthusiasm,  the  land  around 
this  city  is  eminently  entitled  to  that  distinction.  The 
sacred  record  of  events  transacted  in  the  fields  of  Shechem 
is  from  our  earliest  years  remembered  with  delight.  “  Along 
the  valley,’’  observes  a  late  traveller,  “we  beheld  a  com¬ 
pany  of  Ishmaelites  coming  from  Gilead,  as  in  the  days  of 
Reuben  and  Judah,  with  their  camels,  bearing  spicery,  and 
balm,  and  myrrh ;  who  would  gladly  have  purchased  an¬ 
other  Joseph  of  his  brethren,  and  conveyed  him  as  a  slave 
to  some  Potiphar  in  Egypt.  Upon  the  hills  around  flocks 
and  herds  were  feeding  as  of  old ;  nor  in  the  simple  garb 
of  the  shepherds  of  Samaria  was  there  any  thing  to  con¬ 
tradict  the  notions  we  may  entertain  of  the  appearance 
formerly  exhibited  by  the  sons  of  Jacob.”  * 

It  has  been  remarked  in  reference  to  Jacob’s  Well,  where- 
our  Lord  held  his  conversation  with  the  woman  of  Samaria,, 
tliat  no  Christian  scholar  ever  read  the  fourth  chapter  of 


*  Clarke,  vol.  iv.  p.  275. 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


207 


St.  John’s  Gospel  without  being  struck  with  the  numerous 
internal  evidences  of  truth  which  crowd  upon  the  mind  in 
its  perusal.  Within  so  small  a  compass  it  is  impossible  to 
find,  in  other  writings,  so  many  sources  of  reflection  and 
of  interest.  Independently  of  its  importance  as  a  theo¬ 
logical  document,  it  concentrates  so  much  information  that 
a  volume  might  be  filled  with  its  singular  illustration  of  the 
history  of  the  Jews  and  the  geography  of  the  country.  All 
that  can  be  collected  upon  these  subjects  from  Josephus 
seems  to  be  but  a  comment  on  this  chapter.  The  journey 
of  our  Lord  from  Judea  into  Galilee — the  cause  of  it — his 
passage  through  Samaria — his  approach  to  the  metropolis 
of  that  country — its  name — his  arrival  at  the  Amorite  field 
which  terminates  the  narrow  Valley  of  Shechem — the  an¬ 
cient  custom  of  stopping  at  a  well — the  female  employment 
of  drawing  water — the  disciples  sent  into  the  city  for  food, 
by  which  the  situation  of  the  well  and  of  the  town  is  so 
obviously  implied — the  question  of  the  woman  referring  to 
existing  prejudices  which  separated  the  Jews  from  the  Sa¬ 
maritans — the  depth  of  the  well — the  oriental  allusion  con¬ 
tained  in  the  expression  “  living  water” — the  history  of  the 
well  itself,  and  the  customs  thereby  illustrated — the  worship 
upon  Mount  Gerizim — all  these  occur  within  a  few  verses, 
and  supply  a  species  of  evidence  for  the  truth  of  the  nar¬ 
rative  in  which  they  are  imbodied  that  no  candid  mind  has 
-ever  been  able  to  resist,* 

The  ancient  Samaria  presents  itself  to  the  traveller  in 
these  days  under  the  name  of  Sebaste,  or  the  Venerable, — 
an  appellation  conferred  upon  it  by  Herod  in  honour  of  his 
patron  Augustus.  The  Jewish  historian  describes  at  length 
the  buildings  erected  by  the  Idumean  prince,  especially  a 
citadel,  and  a  noble  temple  which  he  intended  to  exhibit  to 
future  generations  as  a  specimen  of  his  taste  and  munifi¬ 
cence.  He  adds,  that  the  town  was  twenty  furlongs  in 
circumference,  and  distant  one  day’s  journey  from  Jerusa¬ 
lem.  It  is  computed  by  modern  tourists  to  be  more  than 
forty  miles.  The  situation  is  extremely  beautiful  as  well 
as  naturally  strong,  being  placed  on  a  large  hill  encom¬ 
passed  all  round  by  a  broad  deep  valley,  and  therefore 
capable  of  an  easy  and  complete  fortification.  But  the 


*  Clarke,  vol.  iv.  p.  280. 


208  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

splendid  city  of  Herod  is  now  reduced  to  a  village,  small 
and  poor,  exhibiting  only  the  remains  of  its  former  great¬ 
ness.  In  one  place,  according  to  Dr.  Richardson,  there  are 
sixty  columns  of  the  Ionic  order  extended  in  a  single  row, 
marking  the  site  of  some  gorgeous  structure  erected  by  the 
vassal  of  Augustus.  Mr.  Buckingham  counted  eighty-three 
of  these  pillars,  and  alludes  to  a  tradition  current  among 
the  natives,  that  they  formed  part  of  Herod’s  own  palace. 
This  may  be  the  edifice  mentioned  by  Josephus,  who  says 
that  the  king  just  named  built  a  sacred  place  of  a  furlong 
and  a  half  in  circuit,  and  adorned  it  with  all  sorts  of  deco¬ 
rations  ;  and  therein  constructed  a  temple  remarkable  both 
for  its  largeness  and  its  beauty. 

Mr.  Maundrell  relates,  that  in  his  time  the  place  where 
the  city  had  stood  was  entirely  converted  into  gardens ; 
and  all  the  tokens  that  remain  to  testify  that  there  ever  was 
such  a  metropolis  are  only  a  large  square  piazza  surrounded 
with  pillars,  and  some  poor  ruins  of  a  church,  said  to  have 
been  built  by  the  Empress  Helena  over  the  place  where  St. 
John  the  Baptist  was  both  imprisoned  and  beheaded.  In 
the  body  of  this  temple  you  go  down  a  staircase  into  the 
very  dungeon  where  that  holy  blood  was  shed.  The  Turks 
hold  the  prison  in  great  veneration,  and  over  it  have  erected 
a  small  mosque  ;  but  for  a  little  piece  of  money  they  sutler 
you  to  go  in  and  satisfy  your  curiosity  at  pleasure. 

A  hundred  and  thirty  years,  aided  by  the  destructive 
habits  of  Mohammedans,  seem  to  have  made  a  deep  im¬ 
pression  upon  the  remains  of  Sebaste  ;  for  when  Dr.  Clarke 
passed  through  it,  he  could  not  discover  even  the  relics  of  a 
great  city,  and  was,  therefore,  disposed  to  question  the  ex¬ 
istence  of  the  splendid  ruins  mentioned  by  Maundrell,  and 
more  minutely  described  by  Richardson  and  Buckingham. 
He  is  inclined  to  identify  the  site  of  the  ancient  Samaria 
with  the  high  ground  on  which  stands  the  castle  of  San- 
torri ;  but  his  reasoning  is  not  sufficiently  cogent  to  satisfy 
the  mind  even  of  the  least  reflecting  among  his  readers. 

At  this  point  we  leave  the  territory  of  Ephraim,  and  pass 
into  that  of  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh.  Pursuing  his  course 
northwards,  the  traveller  reaches  a  small  hamlet  called  Beth- 
amareen ;  and  afterward,  at  the  distance  of  three  or  four 
miles,  he  finds  himself  at  Gibba,  a  village  surrounded  with 
trees  bearing  olives  and  pomegranates,  and  occupying  a 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


209 


lofty  station  over  a  narrow  valley.  This  place  is  succeeded 
by  Sannour,  which  appears  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  castle 
erected  on  an  insular  hill,  and  is  more  commonly  known  by 
the  name  of  Fort  Giurali.  Another  village,  called  Abati,  v 
presents  itself  on  the  right-hand,  imbosomed  in  a  grove  of 
fruit  trees  ;  but  the  stranger,  desirous  to  proceed,  advances 
along  the  valley  until,  after  having  ascended  a  rising  ground, 
he  beholds  stretched  out  at  his  feet  the  fine  plain  of  Esdrae- 
lon  covered  with  the  richest  pasture.* 

On  the  slope  of  the  hill  which  bounds  the  southern  ex¬ 
tremity  of  this  fertile  valley  stands  the  town  of  Jennin,  a 
place,  like  most  of  the  cities  of  Palestine/more  remarkable 
for  decayed  grandeur  than  for  actual  wealth,  beauty,  or 
power.  Its  ancient  name  was  Ginoa,  and  it  is  found  re¬ 
corded  in  the  works  of  some  of  the  older  writers  as  a  fron¬ 
tier  place  between  Samaria  and  Galilee.  The  population 
at  present  is  said  to  amount  to  about  eight  hundred ;  but 
the  ruins  of  a  palace  and  a  mosque  prove  that  it  once  pos¬ 
sessed  a  greater  importance  than  now  belongs  to  it.  Marble 
pillars,  fountains,  and  even  piazzas  still  remain  in  a  very 
perfect  state ;  an  Arabic  inscription  over  one  of  which 
induces  the  reader  to  believe  that  it  was  erected  by  a  com¬ 
mander  named  Selim. 

Instead  of  pursuing  our  course  towards  Nazareth  and  the 
Lake  of  Tiberias,  we  shall  now  cross  the  Jordan  into  the 
Land  of  Gilead,  and  lay  before  our  readers  a  brief  outline 
of  the  discoveries  which  have  been  recently  made  in  that 
section  of  Palestine,  the  inheritance  of  Reuben  and  of  Gad. 
We  have  already  remarked,  that  to  the  indefatigable  exer¬ 
tions  of  Dr.  Seetzen  the  world  are  indebted  for  much  of  the 
knowledge  they  possess  relative  to  the  ancient  city  of  Ge- 
raza,  the  ruins  of  which  are  pointed  out  by  the  Arabs  under 
the  name  of  Djerash. 

Approaching  it  from  the  south,  the  traveller  first  observes 
a  triumphal  gateway,  nearly  entire,  bearing  a  striking  re¬ 
semblance  in  point  of  workmanship  to  the  remains  of  An- 
tinoe  in  Upper  Egypt.  The  front  presents  four  columns 
of  a  small  diameter,  and  constructed  of  many  separate  pieces 
of  stone  :  their  pedestals  are  of  a  square  form,  but  tall  and 
slender.  On  each  of  these  is  placed  a  design  of  leaves,  very 


*  Richardson,  vol.  ii.  p.  415. 

S  2 


210 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


like  a  Corinthian  capital  without  the  volutes  ;  and  on  this 
again  rises  the  shaft,  which  is  plain,  and  composed  of  many- 
small  portions.  As  all  the  columns  were  broken  near  the 
top,  the  crowning  capitals  are  not  seen.  The  pediment  and 
frieze  are  also  destroyed ;  but  enough  remains  to  give  an 
accurate  idea  of  the  original  design,  and  to  prove  that  the 
order  of  the  architecture  was  Corinthian.  The  building 
appears  to  have  been  a*  detached  triumphal  arch,  erected  for 
the  entrance  of  some  victorious  hero  passing  into  the  city. 

Just  within  this  gateway  is  perceived  an  extensive  nau- 
machia,  or  theatre  for  the  exhibition  of  sea-fights,  constructed 
of  fine  masonry,  and  finished  on  the  top  with  a  large  mould¬ 
ing  wrought  in  the  stone.  The  channels  for  filling  it  with 
water  are  still  visible.  Passing  onward  there  is  seen  a 
second  gateway,  exactly  similar  in  design  to  the  one  already 
mentioned,  but  connected  here  on  both  sides  with  the  walls 
of  the  city,  to  which  it  seems  to  have  formed  the  proper  en¬ 
trance.  Turning  to  the  left  the  stranger  advances  into  a 
large  and  beautiful  colonnade  arranged  in  a  circular  form, 
all  of  the  Ionic  order,  and  surmounted  by  an  architrave. 
He  next  perceives  beyond  this  point  a  long  avenue  of 
columns  in  a  straight  line,  supposed  to  mark  the  direction 
of  some  principal  street  that  led  through  the  whole  length 
of  the  town.  These  columns  are  all  of  the  Corinthian  order, 
and  the  range  on  each  side  is  ascended  to  by  a  flight  of  steps. 

Making  his  way  along  this  imaginary  street  over  masses 
of  ruins,  his  attention  is  attracted  by  four  magnificent  pil¬ 
lars  of  greater  height  and  larger  diameter  than  the  rest  ; 
but,  like  all  the  others,  supporting  only  an  entablature,  and 
probably  standing  before  the  front  of  some  principal  edifice 
now  destroyed.  He  next  arrives  at  a  square  formed  by  the 
first  intersection  of  the  main  street  by  one  crossing  it  at 
right  angles,  and,  like  it  also,  apparently  once  lined  on  both 
sides  by  an  avenue  of  columns.  At  the  point  of  intersection 
are  four  masses  of  building  resembling  pedestals ;  on  the  top 
of  which  there  probably  stood  small  Corinthian  columns,  as 
shafts  and  capitals  of  that  order  are  now  scattered  below. 
Passing  the  fragments  of  a  solid  wall  on  the  left,  which  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  constituted  the  front  of  a  large  edifice,  the 
tourist  next  comes  to  the  ruins  of  a  temple  of  a  semicircular 
form,  with  four  columns  in  front,  and  facing  the  principal 
street  in  a  right  line.  The  spring  of  its  half-dome  is  still 
remaining,  as  well  as  several  columns  of  yellow  marble  and 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


211 


of  red  granite.  The  whole  seems  to  have  been  executed 
with  peculiar  care,  especially  the  sculpture  of  the  friezes, 
cornices,  pediments,  and  capitals,  which  are  all  of  the  Co¬ 
rinthian  order,  and  considered  not  less  rich  and  chaste  than 
the  works  of  the  best  ages.  On  a  broken  altar  near  this 
ruin  is  observed  an  inscription,  containing  the  name  of  Mar¬ 
cus  Aurelius.  “  Beyond  this,  again,”  says  Mr.  Bucking¬ 
ham,  “  we  had  temples,  colonnades,  theatres,  arched  build¬ 
ings  with  domes,  detached  groups  of  Iconic  and  Corinthian 
columns,  bridges,  aqueducts,  and  portions  of  large  buildings 
scattered  here  and  there  in  our  way ;  none  of  which  we 
could  examine  with  any  degree  of  attention,  from  the  re¬ 
straint  under  which  our  guides  had  placed  us.”* 

The  author  of  the  unpublished  journal  from  which  we 
have  already  drawn  some  rich  materials  inspected  the  re¬ 
mains  of  Geraza  three  years  ago.  “We  set  out  for  the 
ruins,  and  reached  them  before  sunrise.  Having  seen  them 
only  partially  by  a  faint  light  and  from  a  distance  the  pre¬ 
vious  evening,  I  had  not  formed  a  high  opinion  of  them,  and 
wondered  that  they  should  ever  have  been  brought  into  com¬ 
parison  with  Palmyra.  A  full  examination  now  altered  my 
decision,  and  left  me  and  all  the  party  full  of  admiration  at 
the  grandeur  and  the  elegance  of  the  ruins.  We  were 
struck  with  the  view  down  the  main  street  of  the  city. 
Close  to  us  was  a  temple,  a  fine  mass  of  building,  surrounded 
by  innumerable  fallen  columns  and  ruined  cornices.  Be¬ 
neath  was  the  great  street,  commencing  in  an  elegant  cir¬ 
cular  or  rather  oval  colonnade  of  fifty-seven  pillars,  and  con¬ 
taining  a  succession  of  straight  colonnades  on  each  side, 
crossed  at  right  angles  by  another  line  of  columns  with  an 
entablature.  On  one  side  was  a  splendid  temple  with 
columns,  on  a  height ;  and  on  the  other  a  bridge  crossing 
the  stream  on  which  the  ruins  stand.  Close  to  this  temple 
is  a  theatre  in  remarkably  high  repair  ;  almost  all  the  seats 
are  quite  entire.  The  proscenium  is  still  sufficiently  so  to 
give  a  complete  idea  of  the  plan  ;  and  it  is  easy  to  sit  on  one 
of  the  benches  and  fancy  a  Greek  play  performing  to  a  Ge- 
razan  audience  as  -it  was  seventeen  hundred  years  ago. 
Proceeding  northward  along  the  great  street,  we  soon  came 
to  a  building  which  seemed  to  me  one  of  the  finest  things  in 

*  Travels  in  Palestine,  <fcc.  by  J.  S.  Buckingham,  vol.  ii.  p.  144. 


212 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


Jerash.  It  was  a  sort  of  semicircular  temple,  in  front  of 
which  had  been  a  portico  of  Corinthian  columns,  composing 
part  of  the  grand  colonnade.  I  do  not  think  they  can  be 
under  fifty  feet  in  height,  and  their  form  is  very  elegant. 
The  semicircular  building  itself  is  covered  with  a  half-dome, 
and  ornamented  with  particular  richness  and  beauty.  It  is 
remarkable  throughout  these  ruins,  how  admirably  the 
columns  and  buildings  are  disposed  for  producing  effect  in 
combination.  Of  two  bridges,  a  good  deal  of  the  one  to  the 
east  remains,  and  the  arches  reach  across  the  river,  though 
it  is  not  passable,  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  upper  part. 
There  is  a  paved  road  between  the  colonnades  leading  from 
the  bridge.” 

The  ground  occupied  by  this  city,  which  was  nearly  in 
the  form  of  a  square,  might  have  been  enclosed  by  a  line  of 
four  English  miles  in  length  ;  the  distance  from  the  ruined 
gateway  on  the  south  to  the  small  temple  on  the  north  being 
about  five  thousand  feet.  It  stood  on  the  corresponding 
slopes  of  two  opposite*  hills,  with  a  narrow  but  not  a  deep 
valley  between  them,  through  which  ran  a  clear  stream  of 
water  springing  from  fountains  near  the  centre  of  the  town, 
and  bending  its  way  thence  to  the  southward.  But  so 
complete  is  the  desolation  of  this  once  magnificent  place,  that 
Bedouin  Arabs  now  encamp  among  its  ruins  for  the  sake  of 
the  rivulet  by  which  they  are  washed,  as  they  would  collect 
near  a  well  in  the  midst  of.  their  native  desert.  Such  por¬ 
tions  of  the  soil  as  are  still  cultivated,  are  ploughed  by  men 
who  claim  no  property  in  it ;  and  the  same  spot  accordingly 
is  occupied  by  different  persons  every  succeeding  year,  as 
time  and  chance  may  happen  to  direct. 

Mr.  Buckingham  thinks  that  the  similarity  of  situation, 
as  well  as  of  name,  would  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  this 
Jerash  of  the  Arabs  is  the  same  with  the  Gergasha  of  the 
Hebrews.  Reland  gives  a  variety  of  derivations,  quoted 
from  Pliny,  Jamblichus,  Epiphanius,  and  Origen  ;  all  of 
which  are  much  more  satisfactory  as  they  regard  the  po¬ 
sition  of  a  certain  town  in  the  Land  of  Gilead,  than  as  they 
convey  any  precise  ideas  as  to  its  etymological  import. 
After  the  Romans  conquered  Judea,  the  country  beyond  the 
Jordan  became  one  of  their  favourite  colonies  ;  to  which, 
from  the  circumstance  of  its  containing  ten  cities,  they 
gave  the  name  of  Decapods, — an  appellation  recognised  by 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


213 


St.  Mark  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  his  Gospel.  Geraza,  it 
is  presumed,  was  one  of  those  cities  ;  and  although  its  his¬ 
tory  is  darkened  with  more  than  the  usual  doubt  which 
attaches  to  the  Jewish  annals  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem, 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  in  the  time  of  Vespasian  it 
suffered  the  penalty  of  rebellion,  and  was  finally  destroyed 
by  the  Saracens  when  they  attacked  the  eastern  boundaries 
of  the  empire. 

We  must  satisfy  ourselves  with  a  mere  glance  at  the  hills 
of  Gilead  ;  the  rich  pasture-lands  of  the  tribe  of  Reuben, 
and  formerly  the  kingdom  of  the  gigantic  Og,  the  monarch 
of  Bashan.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Valley  of  the  Jordan 
is  bounded  on  the  east  by  a  range  of  mountains  still  more 
lofty  than  those  which  skirt  its  western  limits  ;  but  it  was 
not  suspected  till  lately  that  the  former  concealed  in  their 
recesses  some  of  the  richest  scenery  and  most  valuable  land 
anywhere  to  be  found  in  Palestine.  Rising  gradually  from 
the  bed  of  the  river,  the  traveller  soon  finds  himself  on  a 
platform  seven  or  eight  hundred  feet  above  its  level ;  form¬ 
ing  a  district  of  extraordinary  fertility,  abounding  with  the 
most  beautiful  prospects,  clothed  with  thick  forests,  diversi¬ 
fied  with  verdant  slopes,  and  possessing  extensive  plains  of 
a  fine  soil,  yielding  in  nothing  to  the  most  prolific  parts  of 
Galilee  and  Samaria.  “We  continued  our  way,”  says  Mr. 
Buckingham,  “  to  the  north-east,  through  a  country,  the 
beauty  of  which  so  surprised  us,  that  we  often  asked  each 
other  what  were  our  sensations ;  as  if  to  ascertain  the 
reality  of  what  we  saw,  and  persuade  each  other,  by  mutual 
confessions  of  our  delight,  that  the  picture  before  us  was 
not  an  optical  illusion.  The  landscape  alone,  which  varied 
at  every  turn,  and  gave  us  new  beauties  from  any  point  of 
view,  was  of  itself  worth  all  the  pains  of  an  excursion  to  the 
eastward  of  the  Jordan  ;  and  the  park-like  scenes  that 
sometimes  softened  the  romantic  wildness  of  the  general 
character  as  a  whole,  reminded  us  of  similar  spots  in  less 
neglected  lands.”* 

The  scenery  continues  of  the  same  fascinating  description 
till  the  traveller  reaches  the  Nahr  el  Zerkah,  or  river  Jab- 
bok,  the  ancient  boundary  between  the  Amorites  and  the 
Children  of  Ammon.  The  banks  are  thickly  clothed  with 

*  Travels  in  Palestine,  vol.  ii.  p.  104. 


214 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


the  oleander  and  plane-tree,  the  wild  olive  and  almond,  and 
many  flowering-shrubs  of  great  variety  and  elegance.  The 
stream  is  about  thirty  feet  broad,  deeper  than  the  Jordan, 
and  nearly  as  rapid,  rushing  downwards  over  a  rocky  chan¬ 
nel.  On  the  northern  side  begins  the  kingdom  of  Bashan, 
celebrated  for  its  oaks,  its  cattle,  and  the  bodily  strength  of 
its  inhabitants.  The  opposite  plate  exhibits  a  view  of  the 
Jabbok,  and  of  the  bold  Alpine  range  which  fenced  the  ter¬ 
ritory  of  one  of  the  most  formidable  enemies  of  Israel;  veri¬ 
fying  in  its  fullest  extent  the  description  of  Moses,  who 
says,  “  The  border  of  the  children  of  Ammon  was  strong.”* 

The  curious  reader  will  find  in  the  Travels  of  Mr.  Buck¬ 
ingham  some  ingenious  reasoning  employed  by  him  to  fix 
the  locality  of  Bozor,  Ramoth,  Jabesh,  and  other  towns 
situated  in  Gilead,  and  which  were  rendered  important  by 
the  various  events  recorded  in  the  sacred  volume. 

About  six  miles  from  Djerash  towards  the  north  stands 
the  village  of  Souf,  on  the  brow  of  a  lofty  hill,  and  flanked 
by  a  deep  ravine.  It  retains  several  marks  of  having  been 
the  site  of  some  more  ancient  and  considerable  town,  pre¬ 
senting  large  blocks  of  stone  with  mouldings  and  sculpture 
wrought  into  the  modern  buildings.  In  the  neighbourhood 
are  seen  the  walls  of  an  edifice  apparently  Roman,  as  also 
the  ruins  of  two  small  towers  which  may  with  equal 
certainty  be  traced  to  the  age  of  Saracenic  domination. 
Souf  can  boast  of  nearly  five  hundred  inhabitants,  all  rigid 
Mohammedans,  and  remarkable  for  a  surly  and  suspicious 
character. 

Leaving  this  rather  inhospitable  village,  the  traveller  who 
wishes  to  visit  the  remains  of  Gamala  proceeds  in  a  north¬ 
westerly  direction,  descending  into  a  fine  valley,  and  again 
rising  on  a  gentle  ascent,  the  whole  being  profusely  and 
beautifully  wooded  with  evergreen  oaks  below,  and  pines 
upon  the  ridge  of  the  hill  above.  “  Mr.  Bankes,  who  had 
seen  the  whole  of  England,  the  greater  part  of  Italy  and 
France,  and  almost  every  province  of  Spain  and  Portugal, 
frequently  remarked,  that  in  all  his  travels  he  had  met  with 
nothing  equal  to  it,  excepting  only  in  some  parts  of  the 
latter  country, — Entre  Minho  and  Douro, — to  which  alone 
he  could  compare  it.”f 


*  Nurn=  xxi.  24.  Deaf.  ii.  37. 


t  Buckingham,  vol.  ii.  p.  244. 


v 

•  „  •  . 


( 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


217 


Several  hamlets  and  some  obscure  indications  of  ancient 
buildings  meet  the  eye  in  course  of  the  journey  to  Om  Keis. 
Before  reaching  this  town,  the  road  emerges  into  a  hilly  dis¬ 
trict,  bleak,  rocky,  and  ill-cultivated.  The  view  is  as 
monotonous  as  that  from  Jerusalem,  forming  a  striking  con¬ 
trast  to  the  rich,  verdant,  and  beautiful  scenery  which  dis¬ 
tinguishes  Bashan  and  Gilead. 

Gamala,  for  under  that  name  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  sta¬ 
tion  are  most  familiarly  known,  must  have  covered  a  site 
nearly  square  ;  its  greatest  length,  from  east  to  west,  being 
seventeen  hundred  short  paces,  and  its  breadth  about  one- 
fourth  less.  A  considerable  portion  of  it  seems  to  have 
stood  on  the  summit  of  a  hill,  well  fortified  all  round  ;  the 
traces  of  towers  and  other  works  of  defence  being  still  visible 
even  on  its  steepest  parts.  The  portals  of  the  eastern  gate 
remain,  from  whence  a  noble  street  appears  to  have  run 
through  the  whole  length  of  the  city,  lined  by  a  handsome 
colonnade  of  Ionic  and  Corinthian  pillars.  The  pavement 
is  formed  of  square  blocks  of  black  volcanic  stone,  and  is  still 
so  perfect,  that  the  ruts  of  wheel-carriages  are  to  be  seen  in 
it,  of  different  breadths  and  about  an  inch  in  depth,  as  at  the 
ruins  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum.* 

The  first  edifice  which  presents  itself  on  entering  the 
eastern  gate  is  a  theatre,  the  scene  and  front  of  which  are 
entirely  destroyed,  but  the  benches  are  preserved.  Still 
farther  on  are  appearances  of  an  Ionic  temple,  the  colon¬ 
nade  of  the  street  being  continued ;  and  about  half-way 
along  is  a  range  of  Corinthian  pillars  on  pedestals,  marking 
the  position  of  some  grand  edifice.  Not  a  column,  indeed, 
continues  erect,  but  the  plan  can  be  distinctly  traced.  This 
supposed  temple  must  have  been  a  hundred  paces  in  depth 
from  north  to  south ;  and  its  fagade,  which  fronted  the 
street  and  came  in  a  line  with  the  grand  colonnade  already 
mentioned,  cannot  have  been  less  than  a  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  in  breadth.  The  chief  peculiarity  of  this  struc¬ 
ture,  however,  consists  in  its  having  been  built  on  a  range 
of  fine  arches,  so  that  its  foundations  were  higher  than  the 
general  level  of  the  town ;  and  hence,  as  the  pedestals  of  the 
columns  were  elevated  considerably  above  the  street,  it  must 
have  presented  a  very  striking  object. 


*  Travels  in  Palestine,  p.  259. 

T 


218 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


There  are  the  remains  of  numerous  other  edifices,  theatres, 
and  temples,  but  they  are  all  too  indistinct  to  enable  even  a 
professional  eye  to  pronounce  with  confidence  on  their  plan 
and  particular  purpose.  The  prevalent  orders  of  architec¬ 
ture  are  Ionic  and  Corinthian,  though  some  few  capitals 
decidedly  Doric  are  discovered  among  the  ruins.  The 
stone  generally  used  throughout  the  city  is  that  of  the 
neighbouring  mountains, — a  species  of  gray  rock  approach¬ 
ing  to  a  carbonate  of  lime  ;  but  the  shafts  of  some  of  the 
pillars  are  formed  of  a  black  substance,  supposed  to  have  a 
volcanic  origin,  and  most  commonly  preferred  for  the  inter¬ 
nal  decorations  of  funereal  vaults  and  sarcophagi.* 

As  the  ruins  here  described  are  not  immediately  on  the 
position  usually  assigned  to  Gamala  on  the  maps,  and  as  Dr. 
Seetzeii,  the  only  person  besides  Mr.  Buckingham  who  has 
published  any  account  of  them,  thinks  that  they  are  those 
of  Gadara,  the  latter  enters  into  a  lengthened  discussion  in 
support  of  his  own  views,  calling  in  the  authority  of  several 
ancient  writers  to  establish  his  position.  The  reader  will 
find  that  much  of  the  ambiguity  which  prevails  on  this  point 
arises  from  the  fact  of  there  being  in  different  parts  of 
Canaan  several  towns  of  the  same  name.  For  example, 
there  was  unquestionably  a  place  called  Gadara  on  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias  ;  while,  from  the 
testimony  of  Josephus,  it  is  equally  certain  that  the  same 
appellation  was  given  to  the  capital  of  Perea.  In  the  New 
Testament,  the  country  of  the  Gadarenes  is  described  as 
being  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  over-against  Galilee, — 
a  notice  which  removes  all  doubt  from  the  opinion  of  those 
who  maintain  the  existence  of  a  town  or  village,  named 
Gadara,  situated  to  the  northward  of  the  site  generally 
claimed  for  Gamala,  and  nearer  the  body  of  the  lake. 

Mr.  Buckingham  tells  us,  that  the  account  given  in  the 
gospel  of  the  habitation  of  the  demoniac,  out  of  whom 
the  legion  of  devils  was  cast,  struck  him  very  forcibly 
while  wandering  among  savage  mountains  and  surrounded 
by  tombs,  still  used  as  houses  by  individuals  and  even  by 
whole  families.  A  finer  occasion  for  expressing  the  pas¬ 
sions  of  madness  in  all  their  violence,  contrasted  with  the 
serene  virtue  and  benevolence  of  Him  who  went  about  con- 


*  Buckingham,  vol.  ii.  p.  261. 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM.  219 

tinually  doing  good,  could  hardly  be  chosen  for  the  pencil 
of  an  artist ;  and  a  faithful  delineation  of  the  rugged  and 
wild  majesty  of  the  mountain  scenery  on  the  one  hand, 
with  the  still  calm  of  the  lake  on  the  other,  would  give  an 
additional  charm  to  the  picture.* 

Amid  the  interesting  ruins  of  Gamala,  situated  in  a  bar¬ 
ren  district,  alike  unfavourable  for  agriculture,  manufac¬ 
tures,  and  commerce,  it  is  impossible  not  to  be  surprised  at 
the  indications  of  wealth  and  luxury  which  most  have 
centred  within  its  walls.  The  opulence  cannot  but  have 
been  considerable  which  erected  such  splendid  temples  and 
colonnades,  and  supported  two  large  theatres ;  erecting,  at 
the  same  time,  such  massive  tombs  and  splendid  sarcophagi 
for  all  classes  of  the  population.  Its  desolation  may  be 
traced  to  the  rebellious  spirit  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the 
sanguinary  wars  to  which  it  led  under  successive  emperors. 
Vespasian,  whose  name  is  so  closely  associated  with  the 
history  of  Palestine  for  good  and  for  evil,  directed  against 
it  on  more  than  one  occasion  the  fury  of  the  Roman  legions, 
and  finally  levelled  its  walls,  that  they  might  not  again  be 
defended  by  such  desperate  insurgents.  At  a  later  period, 
its  remote  situation  withdrew  it  from  the  attention  of 
Europeans  ;  and,  in  truth,  its  very  existence  had  ceased  to 
be  remembered,  until  its  ruins  were  once  more  visited  by 
travellers  in  the  course  of  the  present  century. 

Passing  along  the  eastern  border  of  the  lake,  and  ad¬ 
vancing  towards  its  northern  extremity,  the  traveller  easily 
recognises  that  desert  place  where  the  multitude  was  fed 
upon  the  miraculous  loaves  and  fishes.  Here,  too,  was  the 
scene  of  the  remarkable  punishment  inflicted  upon  the  Gad- 
arenes  for  their  insensibility  to  Divine  instruction,  as  well, 
perhaps,  as  for  their  unhallowed  pursuit  in  feeding  animals 
forbidden  by  the  law  of  Moses.  The  brink  of  the  water 
presents  many  steep  places  where  such  a  catastrophe  might 
be  easily  realized. 

•  At  the  upper  end  of  the  lake  are  the  remains  of  Caper¬ 
naum,  now  called  Talhewm,  or  Tel  Hoorn,  situated  about 
ten  miles  from  Tiberias,  in  a  north-easterly  direction.  This 
village,  although  at  present  nothing  more  than  a  station  of 
Bedouins,  appears  to  have  been  occupied  in  former  times 

*  Travels  in  Palestine,  vol.  ii.  p.  261, 


220 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


by  a  settlement  of  some  importance,  as  the  ruins  of  stately 
buildings  are  found  scattered  over  a  wide  space  in  the 
neighbourhood.  The  foundations  of  a  magnificent  edifice 
can  still  be  traced ;  but  the  structure  itself  is  so  much 
dilapidated  that  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  determine  whether 
it  was  a  temple  or  a  palace.  The  northern  end  is  sixty-five 
paces  in  length,  and,  as  the  eastern  wall  seems  to  have 
extended  to  the  edge  of  the  water,  its  length  could  not  be 
less  than  five  hundred  feet.  Within  this  space  are  seen 
large  blocks  of  sculptured  stone,  in  friezes,  cornices,  and 
mouldings. 

The  appearance  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  as  seen  from  this 
point  of  view  at  Capernaum,  is  very  grand.  Its  greatest 
length  runs  nearly  north  and  south,  from  fifteen  to  eighteen 
miles,  while  its  breadth  averages  from  five  to  six.  The 
barren  aspect  of  the  mountains  on  each  side,  and  the  total 
absence  of  wood,  give,  however,  a  cast  of  dulness  to  the 
picture  ;  and  this  is  increased  even  to  a  feeling  of  melan¬ 
choly  by  the  dead  calm  of  its  surface,  and  the  silence  which 
reigns  throughout  its  whole  extent,  where  not  a  boat  or 
vessel  of  any  kind  is  to  be  found.  No  fisherman  any 
longer  plies  his  laborious  craft  on  the  bosom  of  the  lake, 
nor  seeks  to  vary  his  scanty  meal  by  letting  down  his  net 
for  a  draught.  Mr.  Buckingham  observed,  from  the  heights 
above,  shoals  of  fish  darting  through  the  water,  and  the 
shore  in  some  places  covered  with  storks  and  diving-birds, 
which  repair  thither  in  search  of  food  ;  but  when,  on  one 
occasion,  he  suggested  that  a  supper  might  be  procured  for 
his  party  by  exercising  a  little  skill  with  the  rod  or  net,  he 
discovered  that  the  ignorant  barbarians  whom  he  addressed 
had  not  yet  taken  a  lesson  from  the  fowls  of  the  air. 

A  circumstance  deserving  of  notice  is  mentioned  by  Has- 
selquist,  in  regard  to  the  tenants  of  this  lake.  He  thought 
it  remarkable  that  the  same  kind  of  fish  should  be  here  met 
with  as  in  the  Nile, — charmuth,  silurus,  bsenni,  mulsil,  and 
sparus  Galilaeus.  This  explains  the  observations  of  certain 
travellers,  who  speak  of  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  as  possessing 
fish  peculiar  to  itself ;  not  being  acquainted  perhaps  with 
the  produce  of  the  Egyptian  river.  Josephus  was  of  the 
same  opinion  ;  and  yet  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  in  de¬ 
scribing  the  fountain  of  Capernaum  his  conjectures  tend 
to  confirm  the  conclusions  of  the  Swedish  naturalist : — 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


221 


“  Some  consider  it,”  says  the  Jewish  historian,  “  as  a  vein 
of  the  Nile,  because  it  brings  forth  fishes  resembling  the 
coracinus  of  the  Alexandrian  lake.”*' 

That  Capernaum  was  a  place  of  some  wealth  and  con¬ 
sequence  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour  may  be  inferred  from 
the  expostulation  addressed  to  it,  when  he  upbraided  the 
other  cities  wherein  most  of  his  mighty  works  were 
done  : — “  Wo  unto  thee,  Chorazin  !  Wo  unto  thee,  Beth- 
saida !  And  thou,  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted  unto 
heaven,  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell.”  But  the  history 
of  all  the  towns  on  the  lake  of  Genesareth  has  been  covered 
with  a  cloud  which  it  is  now  impossible  to  penetrate  ;  and 
nothing,  accordingly,  is  more  difficult  than  to  determine  the 
situations  occupied,  even  during  the  latter  period  of  the 
Roman  •  ascendency,  by  some  of  the  principal  places  on 
which  the  emperors  lavished  their  wealth  and  taste.  Beth- 
saida  was  converted  by  Herod  from  an  insignificant  village 
into  the  dignity  and  grandeur  of  a  city,  named  Julias,  in 
compliment  to  the  daughter  of  Augustus.  At  the  present 
moment,  however,  no  traces  remain  to  point  out  the  line-of 
its  walls  or  the  foundations  of  its  palaces.  Genesareth 
has  in  like  manner  disappeared ;  or  if  there  be  any  relics 
of  the  town  which  once  gave  its  name  to  the  inland  sea 
whose  shore  it  adorned,  they  are  so  indistinct  and  ambigu¬ 
ous  as  not  to  merit  the  notice  of  the  traveller.  Tarachea 
is  represented  by  the  hamlet  of  Sumuk,  and  the  ruins  of 
Chorazin  are  imagined  to  meet  the  eye  somewhere  on  the 
opposite  coast ;  but,  upon  the  whole,  the  denunciation 
uttered  against  the  unbelieving  cities  of  Galilee  has  been 
literally  fulfilled,  as  they  are  now  brought  down  to  the 
lowest  pitch  of  obscurity  and  oblivion.! 

Tiberias  is  the  only  place  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee  which 
retains  any  marks  of  its  ancient  importance.  It  is  under¬ 
stood  to  cover  the  ground  formerly  occupied  by  a  town  of  a 
much  remoter  age,  and  of  which  some  traces  can  still  be 
distinguished  on  the  beach,  a  little  to  the  southward  of  the 

*  Joseph,  lib.  iii.  De  Bell  Jud.  Hasselquist,  p.  157.  Clarke,  iv.  p.  527. 

t  Travels  in  Palestine,  vol.  ii.  p.  359.—“  Gtu®  urbes,  quod  ipse  servator 
iis  praedixerat,  hodie  in  minis  jacent.” — Cluverius,  lib.  v.  cap.  20.  “  Ca¬ 
pernaum  w  as  visited  in  the  sixth  century  by  Antoninus  the  Martyr,  an 
extract  from  whose  Itinerary  is  preserved  by  Reland,  who  speaks  of  a 
church  erected  upon  the  spot  where  St.  Peter’s  dwelling  once  stood.”— 
Clarke's 'Pravels  vol.  iv.  p.  211. 

T  2 


222  DESCRIPTION  OP  THE  COUNTRY 

*  . 

present  walls.  History  relates  that  it  was  built  by  Herod 
the  Tetrarch,  and  dedicated  to  the  Emperor  Tiberius,  his 
patron,  although  there  prevails,  at  the  same  time,  an  obscure 
tradition,  that  the  new  city  owed  its  foundation  entirely  to 
the  imperial  pleasure,  and  was  named  by  him  who  com¬ 
manded  it  to  be  erected.  Josephus  notices  the  additional 
circumstance,  which  of  itself  gives  great  probability  to  the 
opinion  of  its  being  established  on  the  ruins  of  an  older 
town,  that,  as  many  sepulchres  were  removed  in  order  to 
make  room  for  the  Roman  structures,  the  Jews  could  hardly 
be  induced  to  occupy  houses  which,  according  to  their 
notions,  were  legally  impure.  Adrichomius  considers  Ti¬ 
berias  to  be  the  Chinneroth  of  the  Hebrews,  and  says,  that 
it  was  captured  by  Benhadad,  king  of  Syria,  who  destroyed 
it,  and  was  in  after-ages  restored  by  Herod,  who  surrounded 
it  with  walls,  and  adorned  it  with  magnificent  buildings. 
The  old  Jewish  city,  whatever  was  its  name,  probably  owed 
its  existence  to  the  fame  of  its  hot  baths, — an  origin  to  which 
many  temples,  and  even  the  cities  belonging  to  them,  may 
be  traced. 

The  present  town  of  Tabaria,  as  it  is  now  called,  is  in 
the  form  of  an  irregular  crescent,  and  is  enclosed  towards 
the  land  by  a  wall  flanked  with  circular  towers.  It  lies 
nearly  north  and  south  along  the  edge  of  the  lake,  and  has 
its  eastern  front  so  close  to  the  water,  on  the  brink  of  which 
it  stands,  that  some  of  the  houses  are  washed  by  the  sea. 
The  whole  does  not  appear  more  than  a  mile  in  circuit,  and 
cannot,  from  the  manner  in  which  they  are  placed,  contain 
above  500  separate  dwellings.  There  are  two  gates  visible 
from  without,  one  near  the  southern  and  the  other  in  the 
western  wall ;  there  are  appearances  also  of  the  town  having 
been  surrounded  by  a  ditch,  but  this  is  now  filled  up  and 
used  for  gardens. 

The  interior  presents  but  few  subjects  of  interest,  among 
which  are  a  mosque  with  a  dome  and  minaret,  and  two 
Jewish  synagogues.  There  is  a  Christian  place  of  worship 
called  the  House  of  Peter,  which  is  thought  by  some  to  be 
the  oldest  building  used  for  that  purpose  in  any  part  of  Pal¬ 
estine.  It  is  a  vaulted  room,  thirty  feet  long  by  fifteen 
broad,  and  perhaps  fifteen  in  height,  standing  nearly  east 
and  west,  with  its  door  of  entrance  at  the  western  front,  and 
its  altar  immediately  opposite  in  a  shallow  recess.  Over 


■  ■ 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


225 


the  door  is  one  small  window,  and  on  each  side  four  others, 
all  arched  and  open.  The  structure  is  of  a  very  ordinary 
kind,  both  in  workmanship  and  material ;  the  pavement 
within  is  similar  to  that  used  for  streets  in  this  country ; 
and  the  walls  are  entirely  devoid  of  sculpture  or  any  other 
architectural  ornament.  But  it  derives  no  small  interest 
from  the  popular  belief  that  it  is  the  very  house  which  Peter 
inhabited  at  the  time  of  his  beiiifr  called  from  his  boat  to 

o 

follow  the  Messias.  It  is  manifest,  notwithstanding,  that 
it  must  have  been  originally  constructed  for  a  place  of  di¬ 
vine  worship,  and  probably  at  a  period  much  later  than  the 
days  of  the  apostle  whose  name  it  bears,  although  there  is 
no  good  ground  for  questioning  the  tradition  which  places 
it  on  the  very  spot  long  venerated  as  the  site  of  his  more 
humble  habitation.  Here  too  it  was,  say  the  dwellers  in 
Tiberias,  that  he  pushed  off  his  boat  into  the  lake  when 
about  to  have  his  faith  rewarded  by  the  miraculous  draught 
of  fishes.* 

Besides  the  public  buildings  already  specified  are  the 
house  of  the  aga,  on  the  rising  ground  near  the  northern 
quarter  of  the  town,  a  small  bazaar,  and  two  or  three  coffee- 
sheds  ;  the  ordinary  dwellings  of  the  inhabitants  are  such 
as  are  commonly  seen  in  eastern  villages,  but  are  marked 
by  a  peculiarity  which  Mr.  Buckingham  witnessed  there  for 
the  first  time.  On  the  terrace  of  almost  every  house  stands 
a  small  square  enclosure  of  reeds,  loosely  covered  with 
leaves  ;  to  which,  he  learned,  heads  of  families  are  wont  to 
resort  during  the  summer  months,  when,  from  the  low  situa¬ 
tion  of  the  town  and  the  absence  of  cooling  breezes,  the 
heat  of  the  nights  is  literally  intolerable.! 

*  Buckingham,  vol.  ii.  p.  366. 

f  “  Within  two  hours  and  a  half  of  Tiberias,  we  looked  down  on  a  fine 
cultivated  plain,  quite  hare  of  trees ;  beyond  which,  at  a  much  lower 
level,  lay  the  narrow  Valley  of  the  Jordan.  This  plain  was  pastured 
over  by  horses  from  the  town,  for  the  keepers  of  which  white  tents  were 
scattered  about  in  all  directions.  We  now  came  in  sight  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee  :  we  only  saw  the  northern  half,  and  its  size  disappointed  us  ; 
hut  the  dark  blue  still  water,  the  green  hills  around  covered  with  bushes, 
and  the  high  snowy  ridge  of  Djibbel  el  Sheik  made  a  very  delightful 
landscape.  Tiberias,  with  its  high-feudal  citadel,  its  walls  and  towers, 
now  forms  a  remarkable  feature  in  the  view ;  and  the  steep  hills,  which 
descend  at  once  to  the  lake  on  the  east,  attract  attention  from  their 
strangely-channelled  sides,  diversified  with  dark  green  bushes  and  whito 
chalky  soil.  The  lake  at  the  town  may  be  six  or  eight  miles  broad.  We 
could  see  no  stream  formed  by  the  Jordan  through  it.  Before  it  wag 


226 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


According  to  the  opinion  of  the  best  informed  among  the 
inhabitants,  the  population  of  Tiberias  (or  Tabareeah,  as 
they  pronounce  it)  does  not  exceed  two  thousand.  Of  these 
about  one-half  are  Jews,  many  of  whom  are  from  Europe, 
particularly  from  Germany,  Russia,  and  Poland;  the  rest 
are  Mohammedans,  with  the  exception  of  twenty  or  thirty 
Christian  families  who  profess  the  tenets  of  the  Latin 
church. 

The  warm  baths,  which  have  given  celebrity  to  that 
neighbourhood,  are  still  found  at  the  distance  of  between 
two  and  three  miles  southward  from  the  town.  The  build¬ 
ing  erected  on  the  spring  is  small  and  mean,  and  altogether 
the  work  of  the  present  rulers  of  Palestine.  The  bath  itself 
is  a  squ  are  room  of  eighteen  or  twenty  feet,  covered  with  a 
low  dome,  and  having  seats  or  benches  on  each  side.  The 
cistern  for  containing  the  hot  water  is  in  the  centre  of  this 
room,  and  sunk  below  the  pavement.  It  is  a  square  of  eight 
or  nine  feet  only,  and  the  spring  rises  to  supply  it  through 
a  small  head  of  some  animal ;  but  this  is  so  badly  executed 
that  it  is  difficult  to  know  for  what  it  was  intended.  Mr. 
Buckingham  states,  that  his  thermometer,  when  immersed 
in  the  water,  instantly  rose  to  130°,  which  was  the  utmost 
limit  of  the  instrument.  He  is  satisfied,  however,  that  the 
heat  was  much  greater,  because  it  was  painful  to  the  hand 
as  it  issued  from  the  spout,  and  could  only  be  borne  by  those 
who  had  bathed  in  the  cistern.* 

Tiberias  makes  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  Jewish  annals, 
and  was  the  scene  of  some  of  the  most  remarkable  events 
which  are  recorded  by  Josephus.  After  the  downfall  of  Je¬ 
rusalem,  it  continued  until  the  fifth  century  to  be  the  resi¬ 
dence  of  Jewish  patriarchs,  rabbis,  and  learned  men.  A 
university  was  established  within  its  boundaries ;  and  as 
the  patriarchate  was  allowed  to  be  hereditary,  the  remnant 

dark  we  had  a  very  fine  view  of  the  lake  ;  at  the  southern  part  it  is  nar¬ 
row,  and  the  sides  bold.  The  sun  threw  a  deep  shade  on  this  side  and 
on  the  water,  while  it  marked  the  hills  and  valleys  on  the  opposite  side 
with  strong  light  and  shade.  The  northern  part  is  much  wider  and 
tamer ;  but  the  hills  are  still  high  and  green,  and  the  lofty  snowy  moun¬ 
tain  of  Djibbel  el  Sheik  rising  over  them  gives  great  dignity  to  the  land¬ 
scape.  This  mountain  was  very  striking  late  in  the  evening,  as  retain¬ 
ing  the  sun’s  rays  after  every  thing  around  us  was  in  darkness.  In  all 
respects  it  is  the  greatest  ornament  of  the  lake,  and  I  am  surprised  that 
travellers  have  not  mentioned  it  more.” — Anonymous  Journal. 

*  Buckingham,  vol.  ii.  p.  368. 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


227 


of  the  Hebrew  people  enjoyed  a  certain  degree  of  weight 
and  consequence  during  the  greater  part  of  four  centuries. 
In  the  sixth  age,  if  we  may  confide  in  the  accuracy  of  Pro¬ 
copius,  the  Emperor  Justinian  rebuilt  the  walls  ;  but  in  the 
following  century,  the  seventh  of  the  Christian  era,  the  city 
was  taken  by  the  Saracens,  under  Calif  Omar,  who  stripped 
it  of  its  privileges,  and  demolished  some  of  its  finest  edi¬ 
fices.  It  must  not  be  concealed,  however,  that  in  the  Itine¬ 
rary  of  Willibald,  who  performed  his  journey  into  the  Holy 
Land  towards  the  close  of  the  eighth  century,  mention  is 
made  of  many  churches  and  synagogues  which  the  con¬ 
querors  had  either  not  destroyed  or  allowed  to  be  repaired.* 

From  Tiberias  to  Nazareth  the  traveller  has  to  encounter 
an  almost  uninterrupted  ascent.  The  village  of  Caber  Sabet 
first  attracts  his  attention  by  its  architectural  remains,  indi¬ 
cating  the  existence  of  an  ancient  building,  which  must 
have  had  marble  columns  and  a  magnificent  portico.  He 
soon  afterward  reaches  Soak  el  Khan, — a  place  chiefly  cele¬ 
brated  for  a  weekly  market,  where  every  description  of  com¬ 
modity  in  use  among  the  people  is  collected  for  sale.  It 
also  presents  the  ruins  of  a  Saracenic  fort  of  a  square  shape, 
with  circular  towers  at  the  angles  and  in  the  centre  of  each 
wall. 

In  pursuing  this  route  we  have  Mount  Tor,  or  Tabor,  on 
the  left-hand,  rising  in  solitary  majesty  from  the  Plain  of 
Esdraelon.  Its  appearance  has  been  described  by  some 
authors  as  that  of  a  half-sphere,  while  to  others  it  suggests 
the  idea  of  a  cone  with  its  point  struck  off.  According  to 
Mr.  Maundrell,  the  height  is  such  as  to  require  the  labour  of 
an  hour  to  reach  the  summit ;  where  is  seen  a  level  area 
of  an  oval  figure,  extending  about  two  furlongs  in  length 
and  one  in  breadth.  It  is  enclosed  with  trees  on  all  sides 
except  the  south,  and  is  most  fertile  and  delicious.  Having 
been  anciently  surrounded  with  walls  and  trenches,  there 

*  Dr.  Clarke  relates,  that  “  the  French,  during  the  time  their  army  re¬ 
mained  under  Bonaparte  in  the  Holy  Land,  constructed  two  very  large 
ovens  in  the  earth  at  Tiberias.  Two  years  had  elapsed  at  the  time  of 
our  arrival  since  they  had  set  fire  to  their  granary ;  and  it  was  considered 
as  a  miracle  by  the  inhabitants  that  the  combustion  was  not  yeTfcxtin- 
guished.  We  visited  the  place,  and  perceived,  that  whenever  the  ashes 
of  the  burnt  corn  were  stirred,  by  thrusting  a  stick  among  them,  sparks 
were  even  seen  glowing  throughout  the  heap ;  and  a  piece  of  wood  left 
there  became  charred.” 


228 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


are  remains  of  considerable  fortifications  at  the  present  day. 
Burckhai'dt  says,  a  thick  wall,  constructed  of  large  stones, 
may  be  traced  quite  round  the  summit,  close  to  the  edge  of 
the  precipice  ;  on  several  parts  of  which  are  relics  of  bas¬ 
tions.  The  area  too  is  overspread  with  the  ruins  of  private 
dwellings,  built  of  stone  with  great  solidity. 

Pococke  assures  us  that  it  is  one  of  the  finest  hills  he 
ever  beheld,  being  a  rich  soil  that  produces  excellent  herb¬ 
age,  and  most  beautifully  adorned  with  groves  and  clumps 
of  trees.  The  height  he  calculates  to  be  about  two  miles, 
making  allowance  for  the  winding  ascent ;  but  he  adds,  that 
others  have  imagined  the  same  path  to  be  not  less  than  four 
miles.  Hasselquist  conjectures  that  it  is  a  league  to  the 
top,  the  whole  of  which  may  be  accomplished  without  dis¬ 
mounting, — a  statement  amply  confirmed  by  the  experience 
of  Van  Egmont  and  Heyman.  These  travellers  relate  that 
“  this  mountain,  though  somewhat  rugged  and  difficult,  we 
ascended  on  horseback,  making  several  circuits  round  it, 
which  took  up  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour.  It  is  one 
of  the  highest  in  the  whole  country,  being  thirty  stadia,  or 
about  four  English  miles.  And  it  is  the  most  beautiful  we 
ever  saw  with  regard  to  verdure,  being  everywhere  decorated 
with  small  oak-trees,  and  the  ground  universally  enamelled 
with  a  variety  of  plants  and  flowers.  There  are  great 
numbers  of  red  partridges,  and  some  wild  boars  ;  and  we 
were  so  fortunate  as  to  see  the  Arabs  hunting  them.  We 
left,  but  not  without  reluctance,  this  delightful  place,  and 
found  at  the  bottom  of  it  a  mean  village,  called  Deboura,  or 
Tabour, — a  name  said  to  be  derived  from  the  celebrated  De¬ 
borah  mentioned  in  the  book  of  Judges.” 

But  this  mountain  derives  the  largest  share  of  its  celebrity 
from  the  opinion  entertained  among  Christians  since  the 
days  of  Jerome,  that  it  was  the  scene  of  a  memorable  event 
in  the  history  of  our  Lord.  On  the  eastern  part  of  the  hill 
are  the  remains  of  a  strong  castle  ;  and  within  the  pre¬ 
cincts  of  it  is  the  grotto  in  which  are  three  altars  in  memory 
of  the  three  tabernacles  that  St.  Peter  proposed  to  build, 
and  where  the  Latin  friars  always  perform  mass  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  Transfiguration.  It  is  said  there  was 
a  magnificent  church  built  here  by  Helena,  which  was  a 
cathedral  when  this  town  was  made  a  bishop’s  see.  On  the 
side  of  the  hill  they  show  a  church  in  a  grot,  where  they 


V 


A* 


■  *, 

'  .  ■  u 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM.  231 

say  Christ  charged  his  disciples  not  to  tell  what  things  they 
had  seen  till  he  should  be  glorified. 

It  is  very  doubtful,  however,  whether  this  tradition  be 
well  founded,  or  whether  it  has  not,  as  Mr.  Maundrell  and 
other  writers  suspect,  originated  in  the  misinterpretation 
of  a  very  common  Greek  phrase.  Our  Saviour  is  said  to 
have  taken  with  him  Peter,  James,  and  John,  and  brought 
them  into  a  high  mountain  “  apart from  which  it  has  been 
rather  hastily  inferred  that  the  description  must  apply  to 
Tabor,  the  only  insulated  and  solitary  hill  in  the  neighbour¬ 
hood.  We  may  remark,  with  the  traveller  just  named,  that 
the  conclusion  may  possibly  be  true,  but  that  the  argument 
used  to  prove  it  seems  incompetent ;  because  the  term 
“  apart”  most  likely  relates  to  the  withdrawing  and  retire¬ 
ment  of  the  persons  here  spoken  of,  and  not  to  the  situation 
of  the  mountain.  In  fact,  it  means  nothing  more  than  that 
our  Lord  and  his  three  disciples  betook  themselves  to  a 
private  place  for  the  purpose  of  devotion. 

The  view  from  Mount  Tabor  is  extolled  by  every  travel¬ 
ler.  “  It  is  impossible,”  says  Maundrell,  “  for  man’s  eyes 
to  behold  a  higher  gratification  of  this  nature.”  On  the 
north-west  you  discern  in  the  distance  the  noble  expanse 
of  the  Mediterranean,  while  all  around  you  see  the  spacious 
and  beautiful  plains  of  Esdraelon  and  Galilee.  Turning  a 
little  southward,  you  have  in  view  the  high  mountains  of 
Gilboa,  so  fatal  to  Saul  and  his  sons.  Due  east  you  dis¬ 
cover  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  distant  about  one  day’s  journey. 
A  few  points  to  the  north  appears  the  Mount  of  Beatitudes, 
the  place  where  Christ  delivered  his  sermon  to  his  disciples 
and  the  multitude.  Not  far  from  this  little  hill  is  the  city 
of  Saphet,  or  Szaffad,  standing  upon  elevated  and  very  con¬ 
spicuous  ground.  Still  farther,  in  the  same  direction,  is 
seen  a  lofty  peak  covered  with  snow,  a  part  of  the  chain  of 
Anti-Libanus.  To  the  south-west  is  Carmel,  and  in  the 
south  the  hills  of  Samaria.* 

*  The  following  extract  from  the  unpublished  journal  already  so  often 
referred  to  will  amuse  the  reader  : — “  We  arrived  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Tabor.  It  is,  in  its  general  outline,  a  round,  regular-shaped  hill,  but  is 
rocky  and  rough  enough  when  it  is  to  be  ascended.  It  has  many  trees, 
mostly  Valonia  oaks.  It  stands  on  the  east  of  the  great  Plain  of  Esdrafilon, 
up  a  recess  formed  by  Mount  Hermon  on  the  one  side,  and  the  hills  towards 
Nazareth  on  theother.  Its  height  from  the  plain  I  should  guess  at  1000  feet. 
We  ascended  the  greater  part  of  the  way  on  mules.  On  the  top  of  the 


232 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


The  plain  around,  the  most  fertile  part  of  the  Land  of 
Canaan,  being  one  vast  meadow  covered  with  the  richest 
pasture,  is  the  inheritance  where  the  tribe  of  Issachar 
“  rejoiced  in  their  tents.”  Here  it  was  that  Barak,  descend¬ 
ing  with  his  ten  thousand  men  from  Tabor,  discomfited 
Sisera  and  all  his  chariots.  In  the  same  neighbourhood 
Josiah,  king  of  Judah,  fought  in  disguise  against  Necho, 
king  of  Egypt,  and  fell  by  the  arrows  of  his  antagonist, 
deeply  lamented.  The  great  mourning  in  Jerusalem,  fore¬ 
told  by  Zechariah,  is  said  to  be  as  the  lamentations  in  the 
Plain  of  Esdraelon,  as  the  mourning  of  Hadadrimmon  in 
the  Valley  of  Megiddon.  Vespasian  reviewed  his  army  m 
the  same  great  plain.  It  has  been  a  chosen  place  for  en¬ 
campments  in  every  contest  carried  on  in  this  country,  from 
the  days  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  the  Assyrians,  down 
to  the  disastrous  invasion  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  Jews, 
Gentiles,  Saracens,  Egyptians,  Persians,  Druses,  Turks, 
Arabs,  Christian  Crusaders,  and  Antichristian  Frenchmen, 
— warriors  out  of  every  nation  under  heaven, — have  pitched 
their  tents  upon  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon,  and  have  beheld 
their  various  banners  wet  with  the  dews  of  Tabor  and  of 
Hermon.  And  shall  we  not  add  that  here  too  is  to  be  fought 
the  great  battle  of  Armageddon,  so  well  known  to  all  inter¬ 
preters  of  prophecy,  which  is  expected  to  change  the  aspect 
of  the  eastern  world]  When  the  French  invaded  Syria  in 
1799,  General  Kleber  was  attacked  near  a  village  called 
Fouleh,  in  the  Great  Plain,  by  an  army  of  25,000  Turks. 
At  the  head  of  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  men,  whom  he 
formed  into  a  square,  he  continued  fighting  from  sunrise  till 
midday,  when  he  had  expended  all  his  ammunition.  Bona¬ 
parte,  at  length,  informed  of  his  perilous  situation,  advanced 
to  his  support  with  six  hundred  soldiers  ;  at  the  sight  of 
whom  the  enemy,  after  having  lost  several  thousands  in 
killed  and  wounded,  commenced  a  hurried  retreat,  in  the 
course  of  which  many  of  them  were  drowned  in  the  River 
Daboury,  at  that  time,  like  another  Kishon,  overflowing  its 

hill  is  one  of  those  large  cisterns,  or  granaries,  so  often  alluded  to  before. 
There  was  one  also  near  Jennin,  which  we  observed  in  coming  in.  I 
have  since  seen  them  in  numerous  other  places,  which  puts  an  end  to 
Dr.  Clarke’s  pagan  remains.  The  whole  of  the  Great  Plain  is  fully 
cultivated,  yet  we  could  hardly  see  a  single  village,  which  adds  to  the 
peculiarity  of  its  appearance, — one  sheet  of  cultivation  without  a  rock 
or  tree,” 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


233 


banks.  In  a  word,  the  champaign  country  which  stretches 
north-west  from  Tabor  has  been  the  theatre  of  real  or  of 
mimic  warfare  in  all  ages.  “We  had  the  pleasure,”  says 
Doubdan,  “  to  view  from  the  top  of  that  mountain  Arabs 
encamped  by  thousands  ;  tents  and  pavilions  of  all  colours, 
green,  red,  and  yellow ;  with  so  great  a  number  of  horses 
and  camels,  that  it  seemed  like  a  vast  army,  or  a  city 
besieged.”* 

O  - 

But  we  now  proceed  towards  Nazareth,  the  modem 
Naszera  or  Nassera,  a  journey  of  about  two  hours  from  the 
foot  of  the  mountain  which  we  have  just  examined.  It 
seems,  says  one  writer,  as  if  fifteen  mountains  met  to  form  an 
enclosure  for  this  delightful  spot ;  they  rise  round  it  like  the 
edge  of  a  shell  to  guard  it  from  intrusion.  It  is  a  rich  and 
beautiful  field  in  the  midst  of  barren  hills.  The  church 
stands  in  a  cave  supposed  to  be  the  place  where  the  Blessed 
Virgin  received  the  joyful  message  of  the  angel,  recorded 
in  the  first  chapter  of  St.  Luke’s  Gospel.  It  resembles  the 
figure  of  a  cross.  That  part  of  it  which  stands  for  the 
tree  of  the  cross  is  fourteen  paces  long  and  six  broad,  and 
runs  directly  into  the  grot,  having  no  other  arch  over  it  at 
top  but  that  of  the  natural  rock.  The  transverse  part  is 
nine  paces  in  length  and  four  in  width,  and  is  built  athwart 
the  mouth  of  the  cave.  Just  at  the  section  of  these  divi¬ 
sions  are  erected  two  granite  pillars,  two  feet  in  diameter, 
and  about  three  feet  distant  from  each  other.  They  are 
supposed  by  the  faithful  to  stand  on  the  very  places  where 
the  angel  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  respectively  stood  at  the 
time  of  the  Annunciation,  t 

When  Dr.  Clarke  visited  this  sanctuary,  the  friars  pointed 
out  the  kitchen  and  the  fireplace  of  the  Virgin  Mary ;  and 
as  all  consecrated  places  in  the  Holy  Land  contain  some 
supposed  miracle  for  exhibition,  the  monks,  he  informs  us, 
have  taken  care  not  to  be  altogether  deficient  in  supernatural 
rarities.  Accordingly,  the  first  things  they  show  to  stran¬ 
gers  who  descend  into  the  cave  are  two  stone  pillars  in  the 
front  of  it ;  one  of  which,  separated  from  its  base,  is  said 

*  Clarke,  vol.  iv.  p.  260.  Doubdan,  Voyage  de  la  Terre  Sainte,  p.  507. 
Paris,  1661. — It  is  remarkable  that  all  the  descriptions  of  the  view  from 
Mount  Tabor  appear  to  be  borrowed  from  this  sedulous  Frenchman, 
whose  work,  in  point  of  topography,  is  still  unequalled. 

t  Journey,  p.  112. 

U  2 


234  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

to  sustain  its  capital  and  a  part  of  its  shaft  miraculously  in 
the  air.  The  fact  is,  that  the  capital  and  a  piece  of  the 
shaft  of  a  pillar  of  gray  granite  have  been  fastened  to  the 
roof  of  the  grotto ;  and  “  so  clumsily  is  the  rest  of  the 
hocus  pocus  contrived,  that  what  is  shown  for  the  lowrer 
fragment  of  the  same  pillar  resting  upon  the  earth  is  not 
of  the  same  substance,  but  of  Cipolino  marble.”* 

A  variety  of  stories  are  circulated  about  the  fracture  of 
this  miraculous  pillar.  The  more  ancient  travellers  were 
told  that  it  was  broken  by  a  pasha  in  search  of  hidden 
treasure,  who  was  struck  with  blindness  for  his  impiety ; 
at  present  it  is  said  that  it  separated  into  two  parts,  in  the 
manner  in  which  it  still  appears,  when  the  angel  announced 
to  Mary  the  glad  tidings  with  which  he  was  commissioned. 
Maundrell  was  not  less  observant  than  the  author  just 
quoted,  although  he  does  not  so  openly  expose  the  decep¬ 
tion.  “  It  touches  the  roof  above,  and  is  probably  hanged 
upon  that ;  unless  you  had  rather  take  the  friars’  account 
of  it,  namely,  that  it  is  supported  by  a  miracle.” 

Pococke  has  proved  that  the  tradition  concerning  the 
dwelling-place  of  the  parents  of  Jesus  Christ  existed  at  a 
very  early  period  ;  because  the  church  built  over  it  is  men¬ 
tioned  by  writers  of  the  seventh  century.  Nor  is  there  in 
the  circumstance  that  their  abode  was  fixed  in  a  grotto  or 
natural  cave,  any  thing  repugnant  to  the  notions  usually 
entertained  either  of  the  ancient  customs  of  the  country  or 
of  the  class  of  society  to  which  Joseph  and  his  espoused 
wife  belonged.  But  when  we  are  called  upon  to  surrender 
our  belief  to  the  legends  invented  by  men  whose  igno¬ 
rance  is  the  best  apology  we  can  urge  for  their  superstition, 
a  certain  degree  of  disgust  and  indignation  is  perfectly 
justifiable. 

In  such  a  case  we  are  disposed  to  question  the  good 
effects  ascribed  by  some  authors  to  the  pious  zeal  of  the 
Empress  Helena,  who,  although  she  did  not  in  fact  erect 
one-half  of  the  buildings  ascribed  to  her  munificence,  most 
undoubtedly  laboured,  by  her  architectural  designs,  to  ob¬ 
literate  every  trace  of  those  simple  scenes  which  might 
have  been  regarded  with  reasonable  veneration  in  all  ages 
of  the  church.  Dr.  Clarke,  in  a  fit  of  spleen  with  which 


*  Clarke,  vol.  iv.  p.  170. 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


235 


we  cannot  altogether  refuse  to  sympathize,  remarks,  that 
had  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  been  capable  of  annihilation  by  her 
means,  it  would  have  been  dried  up,  paved,  covered  with 
churches  and  altars,  or  converted  into  monasteries  and  mar¬ 
kets  of  indulgences,  until  every  feature  of  the  original  had 
disappeared  ;  and  all  this  by  way  of  rendering  it  more  par¬ 
ticularly  holy.* 

Of  the  original  edifice,  said  to  have  been  erected  by  the 
mother  of  Constantine,  some  remains  may  still  be  observed 
in  the  form  of  subverted  columns,  which,  with  the  frag¬ 
ments  of  their  capitals  and  bases,  lie  near  the  modern  build¬ 
ing.  The  present  church  and  convent  are  of  a  compara¬ 
tively  recent  date,  at  least  so  far  as  the  outward  structure 
and  internal  decorations  are  concerned ;  the  former  being 
filled  with  pictures  supplied  by  the  modern  school,  all  of 
which  are  said  to  be  below  mediocrity. 

Besides  the  antiquities  already  mentioned  having  a  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  early  history  of  our  Lord,  the  traveller  is  con¬ 
ducted  to  the  “  workshop  of  Joseph,”  which  is  near  the 
convent,  and  was  formerly  included  within  its  walls.  It  is 
now  a  small  chapel,  perfectly  modern,  and  whitewashed 
like  a  Turkish  sepulchre.  After  this  is  shown  the  syna¬ 
gogue  where  the  Redeemer  is  said  to  have  read  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  to  the  Jews  ;  and  also  the  precipice  from  which  the 
monks  aver  he  leaped  down  to  escape  the  rage  of  his  towns¬ 
men,  who  were  offended  at  his  application  of  the  sacred 
text.  “  And  all  they  in  the  synagogue,  when  they  heard 
these  things,  were  filled  with  wrath,  and  rose  up,  and  thrust 
him  out  of  the  city,  and  led  him  unto  the  brow  of  the  hill 
whereon  their  city  was  built,  that  they  might  cast  him  down 
headlong.  But  he,  passing  through  the  midst  of  them, 
went  his  way.”t 

The  Mount  of  Precipitation,  as  it  is  now  called,  is,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Mr.  Buckingham,  about  two  miles  distant  from 

*  Vol.  iv.  p.  174.  “  Up  stairs,  above  the  Chapel  of  the  Incarnation,” 
says  Dr.  Richardson,  “  we  were  shown  another  grotto,  which  was  called 
the  Virgin  Marv’s  Kitchen,  and  a  black  smoked  place  in  the  corner  which 
was  called  the* Virgin  Mary’s  Chimney.  I  believe  none  of  the  cinders, 
fire-irons,  or  culinary  instruments  have  been  preserved  ;  these  probably 
fled  with  the  Santa  Casa,  or  Holy  House,  to  Loretto ;  and  our  only  as¬ 
tonishment  is,  that  the  house  should  have  taken  flight  and  left  the  chim¬ 
ney  and  kitchen  behind.” — Vol.  ii.  p.  440. 

t  Luke  iv.  28,  29,  30. 


236  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 

Nazareth  ;  is  almost  inaccessible,  from  the  steep  and  rocky 
nature  of  the  road  ;  and  is  decidedly  not  upon  the  hill 
where  the  town  could  ever  have  been  built.  Dr.  Clarke,  on 
the  other  hand,  maintains  that  the  words  of  the  evangelist 
are  most  explicit,  and  prove  the  situation  of  the  ancient 
city  to  have  been  precisely  that  which  is  now  occupied  by 
the  modern  town.  In  a  recess  there  is  an  altar  hewn 
out  of  the  rock,  said  to  be  the  very  spot  where  Christ 
dined  with  his  disciples.  Close  by  are  two  large  cisterns 
for  preserving  rain-water,  and  several  portions  of  buildings, 
all  described  as  the  remains  of  a  religious  establishment 
founded  by  the  pious  and  indefatigable  Helena.  Imme¬ 
diately  over  this  scene,  and  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice  about 
thirty  feet  in  height,  are  two  flat  stones  set  up  on  their 
edges.  In  the  centre,  and  scattered  over  different  parts  of 
one  of  them,  are  several  round  marks  like  the  deep  imprint 
of  fingers  on  wax ;  and  it  is  insisted  that  these  are  the  im¬ 
pression  of  our  Saviour’s  hand  when  he  clung  to  the  stone, 
and  thereby  escaped  being  thrown  headlong  down.* 

One  celebrated  relic  stiff  remains  to  be  noticed,  which, 
although  it  is  not  alluded  to  in  the  New  Testament,  is 
regularly  authenticated  by  the  pope  ;  who,  besides,  grants 
a  plenary  indulgence  to  every  pilgrim  visiting  the  place 
where  it  is  exhibited.  This  is  nothing  more  than  a  large 
stone,  on  which  it  is  affirmed  that  Christ  did  eat  with  his 
disciples  both  before  and  after  his  resurrection  from  the 
dead.  A  chapel  has  been  built  over  it,  on  the  waffs  of 
which  are  several  copies  of  a  printed  certificate,  stating  the 
grounds  of  its  claim  to  veneration.  Dr.  Clarke  transcribed 
this  curious  document,  which  we  give  in  a  note  below,  ac¬ 
companied  with  a  translation  for  the  use  of  such  readers 
as  have  not  formed  an  acquaintance  with  the  Latin 
tongue,  t 

*  Travels  in  Palestine,  vol.  ii.  p.  315. 

t  “  Traditio  continua  est,  et  nunquam  interrupta,  apud  omnes  nationes 
Orientales,  hanc  petram,  dictam  Mensa  Christi,  illam  ipsam  esse  supra 
quam  Dominus  noster  Jesus  Christus  cum  suis  comedit  discipulis  ante 
et  post  suam  resurrectionem  a  mortuis. 

“  Et  sancta  Romana  ecclesia  Indulgentia.m  concessit  septem  anno- 
rum  et  totidem  quadragenarum,  omnibus  Christi  fidelibus  hunc  sanctum 
locum  visitantibus,  recitando  saltern  ibi  unum  Pater,  et  Ave,  dummodo 
sint  in  statu  gratiae.” 

“  It  is  a  continued  and  uninterrupted  tradition  among  all  the  Eastern 
churches,  that  this  stone,  called  the  Table  of  Christ  is  that  very  one 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


237 

There  is  not  an  object  in  all  Nazareth  so  much  the  resort 
of  pilgrims, — Greeks,  Catholics,  Arabs,  and  even  Turks, — 
as  this  stone  :  the  former  classes  on  account  of  the  seven 
years’  indulgence  granted  to  those  who  visit  it ;  the  two 
latter,  because  they  believe  some  virtue  must  reside  in  a 
slab  before  which  all  comers  are  so  eager  to  prostrate 
themselves. 

In  a  valley  near  the  town  is  a  fountain  which  bears  the 
name  of  the  Virgin,  and  where  the  women  are  seen  pass¬ 
ing  to  and  fro  with  pitchers  on  their  heads,  as  in  the  days 
of  old.  It  is  justly  remarked,  that,  if  there  be  a  spot 
throughout  the  Holy  Land  which  was  more  particularly 
honoured  by  the  presence  of  Mary,  we  may  consider  this  to 
be  the  place  ;  because  the  situation  of  a  copious  spring  is 
not  liable  to  change,  and  because  the  custom  of  repairing 
thither  to  draw  water  has  been  continued  among  the  female 
inhabitants  of  Nazareth  from  the  earliest  period  of  its 
history. 

As  another  memorial  of  primitive  times,  we  may  mention 
that  it  is  still  common  in  Nazareth  to  see  “  two  women 
grinding  at  the  mill illustrating  the  remarkable  saying  of 
our  Lord  in  reference  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
The  two  females,  seated  on  the  ground  opposite  to  each 
other,  hold  between  them  two  round  flat  stones,  such  as  are 
seen  in  Lapland,  and  which  in  Scotland  are  usually  called 
querns.  In  the  centre  of  the  upper  stone  is  a  cavity  for 
pouring  in  the  corn  ;  and  by  the  side  of  this  an  upright 
wooden  handle  for  moving  it.  To  begin  the  operation,  one 
of  the  women  with  her  right  hand  pushes  this  handle  to  her 
companion,  who  in  her  turn  sends  it  back  to  the  first, — thus 
communicating  a  rotatory  and  very  rapid  motion  to  the  upper 
stone  ;  their  left  hands  being  all  the  while  employed  in 
supplying  fresh  corn,  as  fast  as  the  bran  and  flour  escape 
from  the  sides  of  the  machine.* 

It  is  not  without  pleasure  that  the  traveller  contemplates 
these  unaltered  tokens  of  the  simple  life  which  prevailed 

upon  which  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ate  with  his  disciples  both  before  and 
after  his  resurrection  from  the  dead. 

“  And  the  holy  Roman  church  hath  granted  an  Indulgence  of  seven 
years,  and  as  many  lents,  to  all  the  faithful  in  Christ  visiting  this  sacred 
place,  upon  reciting  at  least  one  Pater  Noater  and  an  Ave.  provided  they 
be  in  a  state  of  grace.” 

*  Clarke,  vol.  iv.  p.  167. 


238  description  of  the  country 

in  Palestine  at  the  time  when  our  Saviour  abode  in  the 
house  of  Mary  his  mother  ;  and  more  especially,  as  he 
cannot  fail  to  contrast  them  with  the  pernicious  mummery 
which  continues  to  disgrace  the  more  artificial  monuments 
of  Christian  antiquity.  From  the  extravagances  charge¬ 
able  upon  the  priesthood  at  all  the  holy  places  in  Canaan, 
there  has  resulted  this  most  melancholy  fact,  that  devout 
but  weak  men,  unable  to  distinguish  between  monkish  fraud 
and  simple  truth,  have  considered  the  whole  series  of  topo¬ 
graphical  evidence  as  one  tissue  of  imposture,  and  have  left 
the  Holy  Land  worse  Christians  than  when  they  entered 
it.  Credulity  and  skepticism  are  extremes  too  often  found 
to  approximate  ;  and  the  man,  accordingly,  who  suddenly 
relinquishes  the  one,  is  almost  sure  to  adopt  the  other. 

Burckhardt  remarks  that  the  church  of  Nazareth,  next  to 
the  one  over  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  is  the  finest  in  Syria,  and 
possesses  two  tolerably  good  organs.  Within  the  walls  of 
the  convent  are  several  gardens  and  a  small  burying-ground ; 
the  building  is  very  strong,  and  serves  occasionally  as  a 
fortress  to  all  the  Christians  in  the  town.  There  are  eleven 
friars  on  the  establishment,  the  yearly  expenses  of  which, 
amounting  to  about  900Z.,  are  defrayed  by  the  rent  of  a  few 
houses  and  the  produce  of  a  small  portion  of  land,  the 
property  of  the  good  fathers. 

Before  quitting  this  interesting  place, — the  scene  where 
our  Lord  passed  the  days  of  his  childhood  and  youth, — we 
may  observe,  that  there  is  a  great  variation  in  the  accounts 
given  by  different  travellers  as  to  the  number  of  its  inhabit¬ 
ants.  Dr.  Richardson  restricts  it  to  six  or  seven  hundred ; 
Mr.  Buckingham  raises  it  to  two  thousand ;  while  others 
assert  that  it  does  not  fall  short  of  half  as  many  more. 
There  are  five  hundred  Turks,  and  the  remainder  are  Chris¬ 
tians, — the  latter  described  as  a  civil  and  very  industrious 
class  of  people. 

At  about  an  hour  and  a  half  towards  the  north-east,  situ¬ 
ated  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  stands  Refer  Kenna,  or  Cana  of 
Galilee,  the  village  where  the  Redeemer  performed  his  first 
miracle.  Here,  in  a  small  church  belonging  to  the  Greek 
communion,  is  shown  an  old  stone  pot  made  of  the  common 
rock  of  the  country,  and  which  is  said  to  be  one  of  the 
original  vessels  that  contained  the  water  afterward  con¬ 
verted  into  wine.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  says  Dr.  Clarke, 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM.  239 

that  in  walking  among  the  ruins  of  Cana  one  sees  large 
massy  pots  of  stone  answering  to  the  description  given  by 
the  evangelist ;  not  preserved  nor  exhibited  as  relics,  but 
lying  about  disregarded  by  the  present  inhabitants,  as  anti¬ 
quities  with  the  original  use  of  which  they  are  altogether 
unacquainted.  From  their  appearance,  and  the  number  of 
them,  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  practice  of  keeping  water 
in  large  stone  pots,  each  holding  from  eighteen  to  twenty- 
seven  gallons,  was  once  common  in  the  country. 

The  remains  of  the  house  in  which  the  marriage  was 
celebrated  are  likewise  pointed  out  to  the  traveller,  who,  at 
the  present  day,  is  permitted  to  examine  curiosities  with 
greater  deliberation  than  was  allowed  to  honest  Doubdan.* 
This  pious  confessor,  whose  zeal  prompted  him  to  leave 
nothing  unexplored,  found  an  old  church  in  the  village, 
ascribed  as  usual  to  the  inexhaustible  beneficence  of  St. 
Helena ;  but  his  attention  was  more  pleasantly  engaged  in 
tracing  the  course  of  the  stream  which  issues  from  the 
sacred  fountain  whence  the  water  was  drawn  for  the  mar¬ 
riage-feast.  •  There  is  still  a  limpid  spring  near  the  village, 
which  affords  to  the  inhabitants  their  daily  supply  of  a  de¬ 
licious  beverage.  Pilgrims  repair  to  it  moved  by  feelings 
of  piety,  or,  as  Doubdan  expresses  it,  to  satisfy  at  once 
their  devotion  and  their  thirst.  A  few  olive-trees  being 
near  the  spot,  travellers  alight,  spread  their  carpets,  and, 
having  filled  their  pipes,  generally  smoke  tobacco  and  take 
some  coffee ;  always  preferring  repose  in  these  places  to 
any  accommodations  which  can  be  obtained  in  the  village. 
Such  has  been  the  custom  of  the  country  from  time  imme¬ 
morial,  extending,  not  only  to  the  wayfaring  man,  but  also 
to  the  shepherds  on  the  surrounding  hills,  and  to  the  com¬ 
panies  of  merchantmen  whose  trade  carries  them  through 
the  neighbouring  deserts. f 

*  “  J)e  1A  nous  retournasmes  sur  nos  pas,  A  l’entree  du  village  par  oii 
nous  avions  passC,  pour  aller  voir  la  Fontaine  ou  on  alia  puiser  l’ean  qui 
servit  a  ce  miracle  ;  mais  en  allant  ces  femmes  et  enfans  nous  penserent 
accabler  de  pierres  et  d’injures,  tant  ils  sont  inliumains  et  enemies  des 
Chrdstiens.” — Le  Voyage ,  &c.  p.  512.  .  ,  .  t  .  , 

t  Clarke,  iv.  p.  187.  “We  were  afterward  conducted  into  the  chapel, 
in  order  to  see  the  relics  and  sacred  vestments  there  preserved.  When 
the  poor  priest  exhibited  these,  he  wept  over  them  with  sc  much  sin¬ 
cerity,  and  lamented  the  indignities  to  which  the  holy  places  were 
exposed  in  terms  so  affecting,  that  all  our  pilgrims  wept  also.  Sucfe 


240 


DESCRIPTION  OE  THE  COUNTRY 


As  we  must  now  leave  the  interior  of  Palestine,  and  return 
to  the  shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  we  cannot  do  more  at 
this  advanced  stage  of  our  progress  than  take  a  distant 
view  of  the  landscape  which  stretches  from  the  lake  of 
Tiberias  to  the  sources  of  the  Jordan.  The  mountains 
that  terminate  the  prospect  are  extremely  magnificent,  some 
of  them  being  covered  with  perpetual  snow.  The  inter¬ 
vening  country,  too,  is  in  many  parts  uncommonly  fine, 
presenting  luxuriant  crops,  thriving  villages,  and  other 
tokens  of  security  and  comfort.  The  Jordan  issues  from 
Lake  Hoole,  or  Julias,  which  in  its  turn  is  fed  by  so  many 
streams,  that  it  becomes  very  difficult  to  determine  the  true 
fountain  of  the  sacred  river. 

The  only  town  of  consequence  between  the  ruins  of  Ca¬ 
pernaum  and  the  alpine  range  of  Hermon  and  Djibbel  el 
Sheik  is  Saphet,  already  mentioned,  being  one  of  the  four 
cities  consecrated  by  the  religious  veneration  of  the  He¬ 
brews.  According  to  Burckhardt,  it  stands  upon  several 
low  hills  that  divide  it  into  quarters,  the  largest  of  which  is 
occupied  by  Jews.  The  whole  may  contain  six  hundred 
houses,  of  which  one  hundred  and  fifty  belong  to  the  people 
just  named,  and  nearly  as  many  to  the  Christians.  The 
summit  of  the  principal  eminence  is  crowned  with  an  ancient 
castle,  part  of  which  is  regarded  by  the  descendants  of 
Israel  as  being  contemporary  with  their  earliest  kings. 

Saphet  is  still  a  sort  of  university  for  the  education  of 
the  Jewish  rabbis,  of  whom  there  are  usually  twenty  or 
thirty  resident,  collected  from  different  countries  of  Europe, 
Africa,  and  Asia.  They  have  no  fewer  than  seven  syna¬ 
gogues.  Their  attachment  to  this  place  arises  from  various 
motives,  and  especially  from  the  traditionary  belief  that  the 
Messias  is  to  reign  here  forty  years  before  he  assumes  the 
government  at  Jerusalem.  To  the  north  of  the  hill  on 
which  the  castle  stands  there  are  several  wells,  which,  it  is 
said,  were  dug  by  the  patriarch  Isaac,  and  became  the 
cause  of  contention  between  his  herdsmen  and  those  of 
Gerar ;  but,  says  Pococke,  they  have  much  mistaken  the 
place,  the  Valley  of  Gerar  being  at  a  great  distance  on  the 
, 

were  the  tears  which ''formerly  excited  the  sympathy  and  roused  the 
valour  of  the  Crusaders.  The  sailors  of  our  party  caught  the  kindling 
zeal,  and  nothing  more  was  necessary  £o  incite  in  them  a  hostile  dispo¬ 
sition  towards  every  Saracen  they  might  %%£\vard  encounter.'’ 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


241 


other  side  of  Jerusalem.  This  town,  which  is  only  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  book  of  Tobit  as  belonging  to  the  tribe  of 
Naphtali,  became  famous  during  the  Crusades  ;  it  was 
occupied  also  by  a  detachment  of  French  troops  during  the 
invasion  of  the  country  by  Bonaparte. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  when  the  celebrated  chief 
now  named  retreated  from  before  Acre,  the  tyrant  Djezzar 
Pasha,  to  avenge  himself  on  the  Franks,  inflicted  a  severe 
punishment  on  the  Jewish  and  Christian  inhabitants  of 
Saphet.  It  is  said  that  he  had  resolved  to  massacre  all  the 
believers  in  Moses  and  Jesus  Christ  who  might  be  found 
in  any  part  of  his  dominions,  and  had  actually  sent  orders 
to  Nazareth  and  Jerusalem  to  accomplish  his  barbarous 
design.  But  Sir  Sidney  Smith,  on  being  apprized  of  his 
intention,  conveyed  to  him  the  assurance,  that  if  a  single 
Christian  head  should  fall,  he  would  bombard  Acre,  and 
set  it  on  fire.  The  interposition  of  the  British  admiral  is 
still  remembered  with  heartfelt  gratitude  by  all  the  inhabit¬ 
ants,  who  looked  upon  him  as  their  deliverer.  “  His  word,” 
says  Burckhardt,  “  I  have  often  heard  both  Turks  and 
Christians  exclaim,  was  like  God’s  word, — it  never  failed.” 

It  is  to  no  purpose  that  we  endeavour  to  ascertain  the 
position  of  Dan,  the  extreme  point  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
territory.  Its  proximity  to  the  Fountains  of  Jordan  might 
be  supposed  to  prove  a  sufficient  guide  to  the  geographer 
in  his  local  researches  ;  but,  as  has  been  already  mentioned, 
the  rivulets  which  contribute  to  form  the  main  stream  of 
this  celebrated  river  are  so  numerous,  and  apparently  so 
equally  entitled  to  the  honour  of  being  accounted  the  prin¬ 
cipal  source,  that  the  precise  situation  of  the  temple  where 
Jeroboam  set  up  one  of  his  golden  calves  is  still  open  to 
conjecture. 

The  road  from  Nazareth  to  Acre  proceeds  for  some  time 
over  a  barren,  rocky  tract  of  country,  which  Hasselquist 
informs  us  is  a  continuation  of  a  species  of  territory  pecu¬ 
liar  to  the  same  meridian,  and  stretching  through  several 
parallels  of  latitude.  At  length  the  traveller  reaches  Se- 
phouri,  or  Sepphoris,  the  Zippor  of  the  Hebrews,  and  the 
Diocesarea  of  the  Romans,  once  the  chief  town  and  bul¬ 
wark  of  Galilee.  The  remains  of  its  fortifications  exhibit 
one  of  the  works  of  Herod,  who,  after  its  destruction  by 
Varus,  not  only  rebuilt  and  fortified  it,  but  made  it  the 


242 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


principal  city  of  his  tetrarchy.  Its  inhabitants  often  re» 
volted  against  the  Romans,  relying  on  the  advantages  for 
defence  supplied  by  its  natural  position.  It  is  mentioned 
in  the  Talmud  as  the  seat  of  a  Jewish  university,  and  was 
long  famous  for  the  learning  of  its  rabbis.  Here  also  was 
held  one  of  the  five  sanhedrims  authorized  by  the  spiritual 
governors  of  Palestine  ;  the  others  being  established  at 
Jerusalem,  Jericho,  Gadara,  and  Amathus.  But  its  chief 
celebrity  is  connected  with  the  tradition,  that  it  was  the 
residence  of  Joachim  and  Anna,  the  parents  of  the  Virgin 
Mary.  The  house  of  St.  Anne,  observes  Dr.  Clarke,  is  the 
“  commencement  of  that  superstitious  trumpery  which  for 
a  long  time  has  constituted  the  chief  object  of  devotion  and 
of  pilgrimage  in  the  Holy  Land.”  No  sooner  was  the  spot 
discovered  where  the  pious  couple  had  lived  than  Constan¬ 
tine  issued  instructions  to  build  upon  it  a  magnificent 
church,  the  remains  of  which  have  been  minutely  described 
by  the  enterprising  traveller  to  whom  we  have  just  alluded. 

“We  were  conducted  to  the  ruins  of  a  stately  Gothic 
edifice,  which  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  finest  struc¬ 
tures  in  the  Holy  Land.  Here  we  entered  beneath  lofty 
massive  arches  of  stone.  The  roof  of  the  building  was  of 
the  same  materials.  The  arches  are  placed  at  the  inter¬ 
section  of  a  Greek  cross,  and  originally  supported  a  dome 
or  a  tower  ;  their  appearance  is  highly  picturesque,  and 
they  exhibit  the  grandeur  of  a  noble  style  of  architecture. 
Broken  columns  of  grange  and  marble  lie  scattered  among 
the  walls,  and  these  prove  how  richly  it  was  decorated. 
We  measured  the  capital  of  a  pillar  of  the  order  commonly 
called  Tuscan,  which  we  found  lying  against  one  of  gran¬ 
ite.  The  top  of  this  formed  a  square  of  three  feet.  One 
aisle  of  this  building  is  still  entire  ;  at  the  eastern  extremity 
a  small  temporary  altar  had  been  recently  constructed  by 
the  piety  of  pilgrims  ;  it  consisted  of  loose  materials,  and 
was  of  very  modern  date.  Some  fragments  of  the  original 
decorations  of  the  church  had  been  gathered  from  the  ruins 
and  laid  upon  this  altar  ;  and  although  they  had  remained 
open  to  every  approach,  even  the  Moslems  had  respected 
the  votive  offerings.”* 

The  date  of  this  building  is  incidentally  mentioned  by 


*  Travels,  vol.  iv.  p.  141. 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM. 


243 


Epiphnnius,  who  relates  that  one  Joseph,  a  native  of  Tibe¬ 
rias,  was  authorized  by  Constantine  to  erect  a  number  of 
such  edifices  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  that  he  fulfilled  the  in¬ 
tention  of  his  sovereign  at  Tiberias,  Capernaum,  and  Dio- 
cesarea.  Reland,  upon  the  authority  of  Theophanes, 
places  its  destruction  in  the  year  339  of  the  Christian  era, 
when  the  town  was  demolished  on  account  of  the  seditious 
conduct  of  its  inhabitants. 

It  is  perhaps  worthy  of  notice,  that  Dr.  Clarke  examined 
some  pictures  which  had  been  recently  discovered  among 
these  ruins.  One  appears  to  represent  the  interview  between 
our  Saviour  and  the  two  disciples  at  Emmaus,  when  in  the 
act  of  making  himself  known  to  them  by  the  breaking  of 
bread.  Another  exhibits  the  Virgin  bearing  in  swaddling- 
clothes  the  infant  Jesus  ;  and  a  third  seems  to  illustrate 
the  same  subject  in  circumstances  somewhat  different. 
They  are  said  to  bear  a  great  resemblance  to  those  used  in 
the  churches  of  Russia,  being  executed  upon  a  square  piece 
of  wood  about  half  an  inch  in  thickness.  As  they  were 
not  valued  highly  by  the  person  into  whose  hands  they 
had  accidentally  fallen,  the  Englishman  bestowed  a  trifle 
on  the  ignorant  Mohammedan,  and  “  took  them  into  safer 
custody.”* 

The  Vale  of  Zabulon  divides  the  village  just  described 
,  from  the  ridge  of  hills  which  look  down  on  Acre  and  the 
shores  of  the  Great  Sea.  This  delightful  plain  appears 
everywhere  covered  with  spontaneous  vegetation,  flourish¬ 
ing  in  the  wildest  exuberance.  The  scenery  is  described 
by  Dr.  Clarke  as  not  less  beautiful  than  that  of  the  rich 
valleys  upon  the  south  of  the  Crimea.  It  reminded  him  of 
the  finest  parts  of  Kent  and  Surrey.  The  prickly-pear, 
which  grows  to  a  prodigious  size  in  the  Holy  Land,  sprouts 
luxuriantly  among  the  rocks,  displaying  its  gaudy  yellow 
blossoms,  and  promising  abundance  of  a  delicious  cooling 
fruit.  On  either  side  of  the  road  the  ruins  of  fortified 
places  exercise  the  ingenuity  of  the  antiquarian  traveller, 
who  endeavours,  through  the  mist  of  tradition  and  the  per¬ 
plexing  obscurity  of  modern  names,  to  identify  towns 
which  make  a  figure  in  Jewish  and  Roman  history.  All 
remains  of  the  strong  city  of  Zabulon,  called  by  Josephus 


*  Travels,  vol.  iv.  p.  148. 


244 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


the  “  city  of  men,”  have  disappeared  ;  and  its  “  admirable 
beauty,”  rivalling  that  of  Tyre,  Sidon,  and  Berytus,  is  now 
sought  for  in  vain  among  Arab  huts  and  scattered  stones. 

The  plain,  which  skirts  the  Mediterranean  from  Jaffa  to 
Cape  Blanco,  presents  many  interesting  memorials  of  He¬ 
brew  antiquity  and  of  European  warfare.  Every  town 
along  the  coast  has  been  the  scene  of  contention  between 
the  armies  of  Christendom  and  those  of  Islamism  ;  whence 
arises  the  motive  which  has  determined  us  to  incorporate 
the  history  of  these  cities  with  the  narrative  of  the  exploits 
whereon  their  fortunes  have  chiefly  depended.  Suffice  it 
to  mention  as  we  go  along,  that  the  vicinity  of  Acre  invites 
the  attention  of  the  naturalist,  on  account  of  certain  facts 
recorded  by  Pliny,  and  repeated  by  subsequent  historians. 
It  is  said  by  this  writer,  that  it  was  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Belus  the  art  of  making  glass  was  first  discovered.  A 
party  of  sailors,  who  had  occasion  to  visit  the  shore  in  that 
neighbourhood,  propped  up  the  kettle  in  which  they  were 
about  to  cook  their  provisions  with  sand  and  pieces  of 
nitre  ;  when  to  their  surprise  they  found  produced  by  the 
action  of  the  fire  on  these  ingredients,  a  new  substance, 
which  has  added  immensely  to  the  comforts  of  life  and  to 
the  progress  of  science.  The  sand  of  this  remarkable 
stream  continued  for  ages  to  supply,  not  only  the  manufac¬ 
tories  of  Sidon,  but  all  other  places,  with  materials  for  that 
beautiful  production.  Vessels  from  Italy  were  employed  to 
remove  it  for  the  glass-houses  of  Venice  and  Genoa  so  late 
as  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

There  is  another  circumstance  connected  with  the  same 
river,  which,  in  the  mythological  writings  of  antiquity, 
makes  a  still  greater  figure  than  the  discovery  just  de¬ 
scribed.  Lucian  relates  that  the  Belus,  at  certain  seasons 
of  the  year,  especially  about  the  feast  of  Adonis,  is  of  a 
bloody  colour, — a  fact  which  the  heathens  looked  upon  as 
proceeding  from  a  kind  of  sympathy  for  the  death  of  this 
favourite  of  Venus,  who  was  killed  by  a  wild  boar  in  the 
mountains  whence  the  stream  takes  its  rise.  “  Something 
like  this,”  says  Maundrell,  “  we  saw  actually  come  to  pass ; 
for  the  water  was  stained  to  a  surprising  redness,  and,  as 
we  had  observed  in  travelling,  had  discoloured  the  sea  a 
great  way  into  a  reddish  hue,  occasioned  doubtless  by  a  sort 
of  minium,  or  red  earth,  washed  into  the  river  by  the  vio- 


NORTHWARD  OF  JERUSALEM.  245 

lence  of  the  rain,  and  not  by  any  stain  from  Adonis’s 
blood.”  * 

The  excellence  of  Carmel,  which  here  rises  into  view, 
has  in  a  great  measure  passed  away.  The  curse  denounced 
by  Amos  has  fallen  upon  it, — “  The  top  of  Carmel  shall 
wither — for  it  is  now  chiefly  remarkable  as  a  mass  of 
barren  and  desolate  rocks.  Its  sides  are  indeed  graced  by 
some  native  cedars,  and  even  the  brambles  are  still  inter¬ 
mingled  with  wild  vines  and  olives,  denoting  its  ancient 
fertility,  or  more  careful  cultivation  ;  but  there  are  no  longer 
any  rich  pastures  to  render  it  the  “  habitation  of  shep¬ 
herds,”  or  to  recall  to  the  fancy  the  beauty  of  Carmel  and 
of  Sharon,  and  to  justify  the  comparison  of  it  to  the  glory 
of  Libanus.  It  owes  to  its  name  and  to  its  prominent 
situation  on  the  coast,  as  a  sentinel  of  the  Holy  Land, 
all  the  interest  which  can  now  be  claimed  for  the  mountain 
on  which  Elias  vindicated  the  vorship  of  Jehovah,  and 
where  thousands  of  holy  Christians  have  spent  their  lives 
in  meditation  and  prayer. 

The  monastery  which  stands  on  the  summit  of  the  hill, 
near  the  spot  where  the  prophet  ottered  up  his  sacrifice,  was 
long  the  principal  residence  of  the  Carmelite  friars.  It 
appears  never  to  have  been  a  fine  building,  and  is  now  en¬ 
tirely  abandoned.  During  the  campaign  of  the  French  in 
Syria,  it'was  made  an  hospital  for  their  sick,  for  which  it 
was  well  adapted  by  its  healthy  and  retired  situation.  It 
has  been  since  ravaged  by  the  Turks,  who  have  stripped 
its  shrines  and  destroyed  its  roof ;  though  there  still  re¬ 
mains,  for  the  solace  of  devout  visiters,  a  small  stone  altar 
in  a  grotto  dedicated  to  Saint  Elias,  over  which  is  a  coarse 
painting  representing  the  holy  man  leaning  on  a  wheel, 
with  fire  and  other  instruments  of  sacrifice  at  his  side.f 

*  Journey  from  Aleppo  to  Jerusalem,  p.  35, 
t  Buckingham,  vol.  i.  p.  181. 

X  2 


246 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  History  of  Palestine  from  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem  to 
the  Present  Time. 

State  of  Judea  after  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem — Revolt  tinder  Trajan — Barco- 
chab — Adrian  repairs  Jerusalem — Schools  at  Babylon  and  Tiberias — 
The  Attempt  of  Julian  to  rebuild  the  Temple — Invasion  of  Chosroes 
— Sack  of  Jerusalem — Rise  of  Islamism — Wars  of  the  Califs— First 
Crusade — Jerusalem  delivered — Policy  of  Crusades — Victory  at  As- 
calon — Baldwin  King — Second  Crusade — Saladin — His  Success  at 
Tiberias — He  recovers  Jerusalem — The  Third  Crusade — Richard 
Cceur  de  Lion — Siege  and  Capture  of  Acre — Plans  of  Richard — His 
Return  to  Europe— Death  of  Saladin — Fourth  Crusade — Battle  of 
Jaffa — Fifth  Crusade — Fall  of  Constantinople — Sixth  Crusade — Da- 
mietta  taken — Reverses — Frederick  the  Second  made  King  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem — Seventh  Crusade — Christians  admitted  into  the  Holy  City — In¬ 
road  of  Karismiarts — Eighth  Crusade  under  Louis  IX. — He  takes 
Damietta — His  Losses  and  Return  to  Europe — Ninth  Crusade — Louis 
IX.  and  Edward  I. — Death  of  Louis — Successes  of  Edward — Treaty 
with  Sultan — Final  Discomfiture  of  the  Franks  in  Palestine,  and 
Loss  of  Acre — State  of  Palestine  under  the  Turks — Increased  Tole¬ 
ration — Bonaparte  invades  Syria — Siege  of  Acre  and  Defeat  of  French 
—Actual  State  of  the  Holy  Land — Number,  Condition,  and  Character 
of  the  Jews. 

The  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  though  it  put  an  end  to 
the  polity  of  the  Hebrew  nation  as  an  independent  people, 
did  not  entirely  disperse  the  remains  of  their  miserable 
tribes,  nor  denude  the  Holy  Land  of  its  proper  inhabitants. 
The  number  of  the  slain  was  indeed  immense,  and  the  mul¬ 
titude  of  captives  carried  away  by  Titus  glutted  the  slave- 
markets  of  the  Roman  empire  ;  but  it  is  true,  nevertheless, 
that  many  fair  portions  of  Palestine  were  uninjured  by  the 
war,  and  continued  to  enjoy  an  enviable  degree  of  pros¬ 
perity  under  the  government  of  their  conquerors.  The 
towns  on  the  coast  generally  submitted,  to  the  legions  with- 
out  incurring  the  chance  of  a  battle  or  the  horrors  of  a 
siege  ;  while  the  provinces  beyond  the  Jordan,  which  formed 
the  kingdom  of  Agrippa,  maintained  their  allegiance  to 
Rome  throughout  the  whole  period  of  the  insurrection  else¬ 
where  so  fatal,  and  especially  to  the  inheritance  of  Judah 
and  of  Benjamin. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


247 


It  has  been  already  suggested  that  soon  after  the  Romau 
army  was  withdrawn,  many  of  the  Jewish  families,  Christians 
as  well  as  followers  of  the  Mosaical  Law,  returned  to  their 
sacred  capital,  and  sought  a  precarious  dwelling  among  its 
ruins.  To  prevent  the  rebuilding  of  the  city,  Vespasian 
found  it  necessary  to  establish  on  Mount  Zion  a  garrison 
of  eight  hundred  men.  The  same  emperor,  it  is  related, 
commanded  strict  search  to  be  made  for  all  who  claimed 
descent  from  the  house  of  David,  in  order  to  cut  off,  if  pos¬ 
sible,  all  hope  of  the  restoration  of  that  royal  race,  and  more 
especially  of  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  the  confidence  in 
whose  speedy  coming  still  burned  with  feverish  excitement 
in  the  heart  of  every  faithful  Israelite.  A  similar  jealousy, 
which  dictated  a  similar  inquisition,  was  continued  in  the 
subsequent  reign, — a  fact  strongly  illustrative  of  the  spirit 
which  prevailed  at  that  period  among  the  descendants  of 
Abraham,  and  explanatory  also  of  their  successive  revolts 
against  the  Roman  power. 

Under  the  mild  sway  of  Trajan,  the  Jews  in  Egypt,  Cy¬ 
prus,  and  even  in  Mesopotamia,  flew  to  arms,  to  avenge  the 
insults  to  which  they  had  been  subjected,  or  to  realize  the 
hopes  that  they  have  never  ceased  to  cherish.  After  a  war 
remarkable  for  the  waste  of  blood  with  which  it  was  ac¬ 
companied,  the  unhappy  insurgents  were  everywhere  sup¬ 
pressed  ;  having  lost,  according  to  their  own  confession, 
more  than  half  a  million  of  men  in  the  field  of  battle,  or 
the  sack  of  towns.  The  skill  and  fortune  of  Adrian,  wTho 
soon  afterward  occupied  the  imperial  throne,  were  dis¬ 
played  in  the  island  of  Cyprus,  from  which  the  Jews  were 
expelled  with  tremendous  slaughter,  and  prohibited  from 
ever  again  touching  its  shores. 

To  check  the  mutinous  disposition,  or  to  weaken  the 
influence  of  the  vanquished  tribes,  an  edict  was  promul¬ 
gated  by  their  Roman  masters,  forbidding  circumcision,  the 
reading  of  the  Law,  and  the  observance  of  the  weekly  Sab¬ 
bath.  Still  further  to  defeat  their  favourite  schemes,  and 
to  blast  all  hopes  of  a  restoration  to  civil  power  in  Jerusa¬ 
lem  under  their  Messiah,  it  was  resolved  by  the  government 
at  Rome  to  repair  to  a  certain  extent  the  city  of  the  Jews, 
and  to  establish  in  it  a  regular  colony  of  Greeks  and  Latins. 
At  this  crisis  appeared  the  notorious  Barcochab,  whose 
name,  denoting  the  “  son  of  a  star,”  made  him  be  instantly 


248 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


hailed  by  a  large  majority  of  the  nation  as  that  predicted 
light  which  was  to  arise  out  of  Jacob  in  the  latter  days. 
Recommended  by  Akiba,  one  of  the  most  popular  of  the 
Rabbim,  to  the  confidence  of  Israel,  this  impostor  soon  saw 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army  ;  amounting,  say 
the  Jewish  annalists,  to  more  than  two  hundred  thousand 
men.  In  the  absence  of  the  legions  now  called  to  other 
parts  of  the  East,  he  found  little  difficulty  in  taking  pos¬ 
session  of  Jerusalem  ;  and  before  a  competent  force,  under 
the  renowned  Julius  Severus,  could  arrive  in  Palestine,  the 
false  Messias  had  seized  fifty  of  the  strongest  castles,  and  a 
great  number  of  open  towns. 

The  details  of  the  sanguinary  campaigns  which  followed 
are  given  by  the  vanquished  Jews  with  more  minuteness 
than  probability.  Severus,  who  had  learned  all  the  arts  of 
desultory  warfare  when  employed  against  the  barbarians 
of  Britain,  used  a  similar  policy  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  ; 
choosing  to  cut  off  the  supplies  of  the  enemy,  and  attack 
their  posts  with  overwhelming  numbers,  rather  than  en¬ 
counter  their  furious  fanaticism  in  a  general  engagement. 
Bither,  a  strong  city,  and  defended  by  Barcochab  in  person, 
was  the  last  to  yield  to  the  Romans.  At  length  it  was 
taken  by  storm,  at  the  expense  of  much  human  life  on  either 
side  ;  but  as  the  leader  of  the  rebellion  was  among  the  slain, 
the  victors  did  not  consider  their  success  too  dearly  bought, 
as  with  the  star  whose  light  was  extinguished  in  the  car- 
nage  of  Bither  the  hope  of  Israel  fell  to  the  earth.  Dio 
Cassius  relates,  that  during  this  war  no  fewer  than  580,000 
fell  by  the  sword,  besides  those  who  perished  by  famine  and 
disease.  The  whole  of  Judea  was  converted  into  a  desert, 
— wolves  and  hyenas  howled  in  the  streets  of  the  desolate 
cities, — and  all  the  villages  were  consumed  with  fire. 

It  was  after  these  events  that  Adrian,  to  annihilate  for 
ever  all  hopes  of  the  restoration  of  the  Jewish  kingdom, 
accomplished  his  plan  of  founding  a  new  city  on  the  waste 
places  of  Jerusalem,  to  be  peopled  by  a  colony  of  foreigners. 
This  town,  as  we  have  elsewhere  observed,  was  called  J^lia 
Capitolina  ;  the  former  epithet  alluding  to  JElius,  the  prae- 
nomen  of  the  emperor, — the  latter  denoting  that  it  was 
dedicated  to  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  the  tutelar  deity  of  Rome. 
An  edict  was  issued,  interdicting  every  Jew  from  entering 
the  new  city  on  pain  of  death,  or  even  approaching  so  near 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


249 


it  as  to  be  able  to  contemplate  its  towers  and  the  venerable 
heights  on  which  it  stood.  The  more  effectually  to  keep 
them  away,  the  image  of  a  sow  was  placed  over  the  gate 
which  leads  to  Bethlehem.  But  the  more  peaceful  Chris¬ 
tians,  meanwhile,  were  permitted  to  establish  themselves 
within  the  walls  ;  and  iElia,  it  is  well  known,  soon  became 
the  seat  of  a  flourishing  church  and  of  a  bishopric.* 

From  this  period  the  history  of  the  Holy  Land  is  less 
connected  with  the  Jews  than  with  the  policy  of  the  dif¬ 
ferent  governments  by  which  their  country  has  been  occu¬ 
pied.  More  attached  to  their  ancient  faith  than  when  it 
was  established  at  Jerusalem,  we  find  them,  both  in  the  East 
and  West,  labouring  with  the  most  indefatigable  zeal  to 
revive  its  principles  and  extend  its  authority.  Hence  their 
celebrated  schools  at  Babylon  and  Tiberias, — the  source  of 
all  legislation,  and  the  seat  of  judgment  in  all  cases  of 
doubtful  opinion.  Hence,  too,  those  mixed  titles,  so  long 
recognised  in  their  tribes,  the  Patriarch  of  Tiberias  and  the 
Prince  of  the  Captivity, — appointments  which,  during  a  long 
period,  constituted  a  bond  of  union,  partly  spiritual  and 
partly  political,  among  all  the  descendants  of  Jacob.  The 
numerous  remains  of  that  people,  though  still  excluded  from 
the  precincts  of  Jerusalem,  were  nevertheless  permitted  to 
form  and  to  maintain  considerable  establishments  both  in 
Italy  and  in  the  provinces  ;  to  acquire  the  freedom  of  Rome  ; 
to  enjoy  municipal  honours  ;  and  to  obtain,  at  the  same 
time,  an  exemption  from  the  burdensome  and  expensive 
offices  of  society.  The  moderation  or  the  contempt  of  the 
Romans  gave  a  legal  sanction  to  the  form  of  ecclesiastical 
police  which  was  instituted  by  the  vanquished  sect.  The 
Patriarch  was  empowered  to  appoint  his  subordinate  minis¬ 
ters,  to  exercise  a  domestic  jurisdiction,  and  to  receive 
from  his  brethren  an  annual  contribution.  New  synagogues 
were  frequently  erected  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  empire  ; 
and  the  Sabbaths,  the  fasts,  and  the  festivals,  which  were 
either  commanded  by  the  Mosaic  Law  or  enjoined  by  the 
traditions  of  the  Rabbim,  were  celebrated  in  the  most  solemn 
and  public  manner.  They  were,  in  like  manner,  restored 
to  the  privilege  of  circumcising  their  children,  on  the  easy 
condition  that  they  should  never  confer  on  any  foreign  prose- 


*  History  of  the  Jews,  vol.  iii. 


250 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


lyte  the  distinguishing  mark  of  the  Hebrew  race.  Such 
gentle  treatment  insensibly  assuaged  the  stern  temper  of 
the  Jews.  Awakened  from  their  dream  of  prophecy  and 
conquest,  they  assumed  the  behaviour  of  peaceable  and 
industrious  subjects.  Their  hatred  of  mankind,  instead  of 
flaming  out  in  acts  of  blood  and  violence,  evaporated  in  less 
dangerous  gratifications.  They  embraced  every  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  overreaching  the  idolaters  in  trade  ;  and  they  pro¬ 
nounced  secret  and  ambiguous  imprecations  against  the 
haughty  kingdom  of  Edom,  the  name  under  which  they 
were  pleased  to  denounce  the  Roman  empire.* 

The  glories  which  were  shed  upon  Palestine  by  the  mu¬ 
nificent  zeal  of  Constantine  and  his  mother  have  already 
been  repeatedly  mentioned.  The  splendid  buildings  which 
arose  in  every  part  of  the  Holy  Land  announced  the  triumph 
of  the' new  faith  in  the  country  where  it  had  its  origin  ;  ex¬ 
citing  at  once  the  pride  of  the  Christian,  and  the  jealousy, 
resentment,  and  despair  of  the  Jew.  The  government  of 
Constantius  was  not  more  favourable  to  the  children  of 
Israel ;  nor  was  it  till  the  accession  of  Julian  that  they  were 
encouraged  to  look  for  revenge  upon  their  enemies,  if  not 
for  protection  to  their  despised  countrymen.  The  edict  to 
rebuild  the  Temple  on  Mount  Moriah,  and  to  establish  once 
more  at  Jerusalem  the  worship  enjoined  by  Moses,  called 
forth  their  utmost  exertions  in  behalf  of  a  prince  who  at 
least  abandoned  a  rival  religion,  destined,  as  they  appre¬ 
hended,  to  supplant  their  own  more  ancient  ritual. 

The  issue  of  this  attempt  to  reinstate  the  ceremonies  of 
the  Jewish  Law  in  the  capital  of  Palestine  is  known  to 
every  reader.  The  workmen  employed  in  digging  the  foun¬ 
dation  of  the  new  Temple  were  terrified  by  flames  of  fire 
darting  forth  from  the  ground,  and  accompanied  with  the 
most  frightful  explosions.  No  inducement  could  prevail  on 
them  to  persevere  in  labours  which  appeared  to  excite  the 
anger  of  Heaven.  The  enterprise  was  relinquished,  as  at 
once  hopeless  and  impious  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that, 
whatever  additions  may  have  been  made  to  the  circum¬ 
stances  by  ignorance  and  a  too  easy  belief,  the  views  of 
Julian  were  frustrated  by  the  occurrence  of  some  very  ex¬ 
traordinary  event,  which  still  finds  a  place  even  in  Roman 


*  Decline  and  Fall,  vol.  ii.  p.  385. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM 


251 


history.  The  skeptic  may  smile  when  he  reads  in  the  pages 
of  a  Christian  Father,  that  flakes  of  fire  which  assumed  the 
form  of  a  cross  settled  on  the  dresses  of  the  artisans  and 
spectators  ;  that  a  horseman  was  seen  careering  amid  the 
flames  ;  and  that,  when  the  affrighted  labourers  fled  to  a 
neighbouring  church,  its  doors,  fastened  by  some  preter¬ 
natural  force  within,  refused  to  admit  them  into  the  sacred 
building.  In  such  details  the  imagination  is  consulted 
more  than  the  reason  ;  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  certain 
authors,  who  wrote  long  after  the  reign  of  Julian,  have 
admitted  traditionary  anecdotes  into  the  narrative  of  a  grave 
event.  It  is  deserving  of  notice,  however,  that  the  mark 
of  the  cross,  said  to  have  been  impressed  upon  the  by¬ 
standers,  is  not  the  most  incredible  of  the  circumstances 
recorded.  Many  instances  have  been  known  of  persons 
touched  by  the  electric  fluid,  whose  bodies  exhibited  similar 
traces  of  its  operation, — straight  lines  cutting  one  another 
at  right  angles, — and  hence  that  part  of  the  description 
which  appears  the  least  entitled  to  belief  will  be  found  to 
be  strictly  within  the  limits  of  nature.* 

The  policy  of  the  emperors  continued  to  depress  the  Jews 
in  Palestine,  while  it  granted  to  them  the  enjoyment  of  con¬ 
siderable  privileges  in  all  the  other  provinces  where  their 
presence  and  peculiar  views  were  less  hazardous  to  the 
public  peace.  During  the  same  period,  the  Christian  church 
possessed  the  countenance  of  the  civil  power,  and  gradu¬ 
ally  extended  its  doctrines  into  Armenia,  as  well  as  into  the 
more  important  region  of  the  Lower  Mesopotamia.  It  was 
not  till  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century  that  the  course 
of  events  was  materially  disturbed  by  an  invasion  of  the 
Persians,  under  Chosroes,  who  had  resolved  to  humble  the 
government  of  Constantinople,  and  to  check  its  pretensions 
in  the  East.  The  part  of  the  army  appointed  to  serve 
against  Palestine  was  intrusted  to  Carnsia,  an  experienced 
general,  who  invited  the  Jews  to  join  his  standard.  This 
people,  ever  ready  to  aid  the  cause  of  revolt,  assembled,  it 
is  said,  to  the  number  of  24,000  men,  and  made  prepara¬ 
tions  for  an  attack  on  Jerusalem.  A  sanguinary  warfare 

*  The  reader  who  wishes  to  examine  the  evidence  for  the  miraculous 
nature  of  the  interruption  sustained  by  the  agents  of  Julian  will  find 
an  ample  discussion  in  the  pages  of  Basnage,  Lardner,  Warburtori,  Gib¬ 
bon,  and  of  the  Author  of  the  History  of  tlie  Jews. 


252 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


had  ensued,  even  before  the  arrival  of  their  allies  from  be¬ 
yond  the  Euphrates  ;  and  both  sides,  accordingly,  were  ex¬ 
asperated  to  the  highest  degree  of  fury,  and  importuning 
Heaven  to  hasten  the  moment  of  revenge.  The  Christians 
within  the  walls  massacred  their  enemies  in  cold  blood,  while 
the  assailants  without  carried  destruction  to  every  point 
which  their  arms  could  reach.  At  length,  the  advance  of 
the  Persians  secured  to  the  Jews  the  hour  of  triumph  and 
retaliation,  when  they  fully  quenched  their  thirst  for  ven¬ 
geance  in  the  blood  of  the  Nazarenes.  The  victors  are  said 
to  have  sold  the  miserable  captives  for  money.  But  the 
rage  of  the  Jews  was  stronger  than  their  avarice  ;  for  not 
only  did  they  not  scruple  to  sacrifice  their  treasures  in  the 
purchase  of  these  devoted  bondsmen  at  a  lavish  price,  but 
they  put  to  death  without  remorse  all  whom  they  bought. 
It  was  rumoured  that  no  fewer  than  90,000  Christians 
perished.  Every  church  was  demolished,  including  that  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre, — the  greatest  object  of  Jewish  hatred. 
The  stately  building  of  Helena  and  Constantine  was  aban¬ 
doned  to  the  flames,  and  the  devout  offerings  of  three  hun¬ 
dred  years  were  rifled  in  one  sacrilegious  day. 

But  the  arms  of  Persia  did  not  long  support  the  perse¬ 
cuting  spirit  of  the  Jews.  The  Emperor  Heraclius,  who  had 
spent  some  inglorious  years  on  the  throne,  was  alarmed 
into  activity  by  the  progress  of  the  enemy,  who  had  threat¬ 
ened  even  the  walls  of  Constantinople  itself.  The  disci¬ 
pline  of  ancient  Rome,  which  was  not  yet  quite  extinct 
among  the  legionary  soldiers,  maintained  its  wonted  supe¬ 
riority  over  the  less  martial  troops  of  Chosroes,  and  recov¬ 
ered  in  the  course  of  a  few  campaigns  all  the  provinces  that 
the  invaders  had  overrun.  Heraclius  visited  Jerusalem  as 
a  pilgrim,  when  the  wood  of  the  true  cross,  which,  it  was 
rumoured,  had  been  carried  away  to  Persia,  was  reinstated 
with  due  solemnity.  Several  Christian  churches,  too,  were 
restored  to  their  former  magnificence  ;  and  the  law  of  Adrian 
was  again  put  in  force,  which  prohibited  the  Jews  from 
approaching  within  three  miles  of  the  holy  city.* 

Palestine  continued  to  acknowledge  the  power  of  the 
emperor  until  the  rise  of  Islamism  changed  the  face  of  West¬ 
ern  Asia.  The  armies  of  the  califs,  which  wrested  from 


*  History  of  the  Jews,  vol.  iii. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


253 


Persia  the  dominion  of  the  surrounding  nations,  conquered 
in  succession  the  provinces  of  Arabia,  Syria,  and  Egypt, 
and  at  length  planted  the  crescent  on  the  walls  of  Jeru¬ 
salem.  The  victories  of  Omar  in  636  decided  the  fate  of 
the  venerable  city,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  a  mosque  on 
the  sacred  hill  where  the  Temple  of  Solomon  had  stood. 
This  conqueror  was  assassinated  at  Jerusalem  in  643  ;  after 
which,  the  establishment  of  several  califates  in  Arabia  and 
Syria,  the  fall  of  the  Ommiades,  and  the  elevation  of  the 
Abassides  involved  Judea  in  trouble  for  more  than  two  hun¬ 
dred  years.  In  868,  Achmet,  a  Turk,  who  from  being  gov¬ 
ernor  had  made  himself  sovereign  of  Egypt,  conquered  the 
capital  of  Palestine ;  but  his  son  having  been  defeated  by 
the  califs  of  Bagdad,  the  holy  city  again  returned  under 
their  dominion  in  the  year  905  of  our  era.  Mohammed 
Ikschid,  another  Turk,  about  thirty  years  after,  having  in  his 
turn  seized  the  throne  of  the  Pharaohs,  carried  his  arms  into 
Palestine,  and  reduced  the  capital.  The  Fatimites,  again, 
issuing  from  the  sands  of  Cyrene,  expelled  the  Ikschidites 
from  Egypt  in  968,  and  conquered  several  towns  in  Judea. 
Ortok,  towards  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  made  himself 
master  of  the  holy  city,  whence  his  children  were  for  a  time 
driven  out  by  Mostali,  Calif  of  Egypt.  In  1076,  Mele- 
schah,  the  third  of  the  Turkish  race,  took  Jerusalem,  and 
ravaged  the  whole  country.  The  Ortokides,  who,  as  we 
have  just  related,  were  dispossessed  by  Mostali,  returned 
thither,  and  maintained  themselves  in  it  against  Redouan, 
Prince  of  Aleppo.  They  were  expelled  once  more  by  the 
Fatimites,  who  were  masters  of  the  place  when  the  cru¬ 
saders  first  appeared  on  the  confines  ot  Syria. 

Several  generations  passed  away,  during  which  the  affairs 
of  the  Holy  Land  created  no  interest  in  Europe,  and  when 
Christians  and  Jews,  who  could  hardly  obtain  the  most 
limited  toleration  from  their  Mohammedan  masters,  sought 
an  asylum  among  the  states  of  Europe.  In  the  Travels  of 
Benjamin  of  Tudela  are  to  be  found  some  incidental  notices 
which  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  fact  that  his  countrymen, 
unable  to  bear  the  persecution  directed  against  them,  had 
gradually  abandoned  the  birthplace  of  their  fathers.  Jeru¬ 
salem,  in  the  twelfth  century,  did  not  contain  more  than  two 
hundred  descendants  of  Abraham,  poor,  depressed,  and 
calumniated  ;  while  at  Tiberias,  the  seat  of  learning  and  of 

Y 


254 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


their  sovereign  patriarch,  the  number  did  not  exceed  fifty,- — 
the  victims  of  suspicion  and  jealousy,  not  less  on  the  part 
of  the  Christians  than  of  the  Moslem,  who  had  already  begun 
to  contend  with  each  other  for  the  sepulchre  of  Christ. 

-  It  has  often  been  observed,  that  pilgrimage  to  the  holy 
places  of  Palestine  was  from  a  very  early  period  regarded 
as  at  once  a  w'holesome  discipline  and  an  acceptable  reve¬ 
rence,  on  the  part  of  Christian  worshippers.  The  Arabian 
califs  were,  on  various  accounts,  inclined  to  favour  the  re¬ 
sort  of  Europeans  to  these  shrines  of  their  faith.  They 
saw  in  it  a  fruitful  source  of  revenue  ;  while,  as  the  progeny 
of  Abraham,  they  were  not  disposed  to  take  offence  at  the 
veneration  lavished  upon  the  prophetic  son  of  David,  whose 
tomb  the  fortune  of  war  had  placed  in  their  hands.  But 
the  Seljukian  Turks,  those  irreclaimable  barbarians,  who  had 
no  sympathy  with  the  believers  in  Christ,  laid  on  them  such 
burdens  and  vexatious  restraints  as  were  altogether  intole¬ 
rable.  The  cries  of  the  unhappy  pilgrims  had  long  re¬ 
sounded  throughout  all  Christendom  ;  and  the  indignation 
which  was  universally  felt  against  the  bigoted  Mussulmans 
was  inflamed  in  no  slight  degree  by  the  eloquence  of  Peter 
the  Hermit,  who  had  v/itnessed  in  foreign  lands  the  afflic¬ 
tions  of  his  brethren.  Yielding  to  the  impulse  of  the  age, 
Pope  Urban  the  Second  convoked  a  general  council  at  Cler¬ 
mont,  in  Auvergne,  to  whom  he  addressed  an  oration  well 
fitted  to  confirm  the  enthusiasm  which  he  found  already 
kindled.  He  encouraged  them  to  attack  the  enemies  of 
God,  and  in  that  holy  warfare  to  earn  the  reward  of  eternal 
life  promised  to  all  the  faithful  servants  of  the  Redeemer ; 
suggesting,  that  as  a  mark  of  their  profession  as  well  as 
of  their  Saviour’s  love,  they  should  wrear  red  crosses  on  their 
garments  when  fighting  the  battles  of  Christianity. 

The  warlike  spirit  of  the  time  was  roused  by  every  motive 
which  can  touch  the  heart  of  man  in  a  rude  state  of  society, 
the  love  of  glory,  religion,  revenge,  and  enterprise.  Many 
of  the  most  illustrious  princes  of  the  Christian  world  took 
up  the  cross,  and  were  followed  by  persons  of  both  sexes, 
and  of  all  ages,  classes,  and  professions.  A  vast  army 
poured  in  from  every  country,  under  the  most  distinguished 
leaders,  ol  whom  the  principal  were,  Godfrey,  Duke  of  Bra- 
b  ant  and  Bouillon;  Robert  of  France,  the  brother  of  King 
1  hilip  ;  and  Robert,  Duke  of  IVormandy,  the  son  of  the 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


255 


English  monarch.  Bohemond,  too,  the  chief  of  the  Nor¬ 
mans  of  Apulia,  and  Raymond,  Count  of  Toulouse,  led  many 
renowned  warriors  to  Syria. 

The  tumultuary  bands  who  marched  under  the  standard 
of  the  Hermit  suffered  hardships  altogether  unknown  to 
modern  war.  In  passing  through  the  countries  watered  by 
the  Danube,  and  the  hilly  countries  which  lie  between  that 
river  and  the  Mediterranean,  more  than  half  their  number 
fell  victims  to  disease,  famine,  and  the  rage  of  the  barbarians 
whose  lands  they  infested.  But,  in  spite  of  these  misfor¬ 
tunes,  Bohemond,  one  of  the  leaders,  laid  siege  to  Antioch 
in  1097 ;  and  on  the  15th  July,  two  years  after,  the  ancient 
and  holy  city  of  Jerusalem  was  taken  by  assault,  with  a  pro¬ 
digious  slaughter  of  the  garrison.  Ten  thousand  Moham¬ 
medans  were  slain  on  the  site  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon; 
a  greater  number  was  thrown  from  the  tops  of  houses  ;  and 
a  fearful  carnage  was  committed  after  all  resistance  had 
ceased. 

The  siege  had  lasted  two  months  with  various  success, 
and  a  considerable  loss  of  life  on  either  side  ;  and  hence 
arose  the  savage  ferocity  which  disgraced,  on  the  part  of 
the  victors,  the  last  scene  of  this  miserable  tragedy.  The 
assailants  having  endured  much  from  drought,  as  well  as 
from  the  sword  of  the  enemy,  betook  themselves  to  pious 
exercises  in  order  to  avert  the  anger  of  Heaven.  The  sol¬ 
diers,  completely  armed,  made  a  holy  procession  round  the 
walls.  The  clergy,  with  naked  feet,  and  bearing  images  of 
the  cross,  led  them  in  the  sacred  way.  Cries  of  Deus  id 
vult, — God  commands  it, — rent  the  air  ;  and  the  people 
marched  to  the  melody  of  hymns  and  psalms,  and  not  to  the 
sound  of  drums  and  trumpets.  On  Mount  Olivet  and  Mount 
Zion  they  prayed  for  assistance  in  the  approaching  conflict. 
The  Saracens  mocked  these  expressions  of  religious  feeling, 
by  throwing  mud  upon  crucifixes  which  they  raised  for  the 
purpose  ;  but  these  insults  had  only  the  effect  of  producing 
louder  shouts  of  sacred  joy  from  the  Christians.  The  next 
morning  every  thing  was  prepared  for  battle ;  and  there 
was  no  one  who  was  not  ready  either  to  die  for  Christ,  or 
restore  his  city  to  liberty.  The  night  was  spent  in  watch¬ 
ing  and  alarm  by  both  armies.  At  dawn  of  day  the  conflict 
began  which  was  to  determine  the  fate  of  the  great  European 
expedition,  and  when  noon  arrived  the  issue  was  still  in  sus* 


256 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


pense,  or  seemed  rather  to  incline  in  favour  of  the  Moham¬ 
medans.  The  cause  of  the  Western  World  appeared  to 
totter  on  the  brink  of  destruction,  and  the  most  valiant 
amono-  the  crusaders  allowed  themselves  to  fear  that  Heaven 
had  deserted  its  own  cause  and  people.* 

At  the  moment  when  all  was  considered  lost,  a  knight 
was  seen  on  Mount  Olivet,  waving  his  glittering  shield  as 
a  sign  to  the  soldiers  that  they  should  rally  and  return  to 
the  charge.  Godfrey  and  Eustace  cried  aloud  to  the  army, 
that  St.  George  was  come  to  their  succour.  The  spirit  of 
enthusiasm  instantly  revived,  fatigue  and  pain  were  no 
longer  felt,  the  princes  led  their  columns  to  the  breach,  and 
even  the  women  insisted  upon  sharing  the  honours  of  the 
light.  In  the  space  of  an  hour  the  barbacan  was  broken 
down,  and  Godfrey’s  tower  rested  against  the  inner  wall. 
Exchanging  the  duties  of  a  general  for  those  of  a  soldier, 
the  Duke  of  Lorraine  fought  with  his  bow :  “  The  Lord 
guided  his  hand,  and  all  his  arrows  pierced  the  enemy 
through  and  through.”  Near  him  were  Eustace  and  Bald¬ 
win,  “  like  two  lions  beside  another  lion.”  At  three  o’clock, 
the  hour  when  the  Saviour  of  the  world  was  crucified,  a 
soldier,  named  Letoldus  of  Tournay,  leaped  upon  the  fortifi¬ 
cations  ;  his  brother,  Engelbert,  followed,  and  Godfrey  was 

*  “  When  the  first  light  brought  news  of  a  morning,  they  on  afresh  ; 
because  they  had  intercepted  a  letter  tied  to  the  leg  of  a  dove,  wherein 
the  Persian  emperor  promised  present  succours  to  the  besieged.  The 
Turks  cased  the  outside  of  their  walls  with  bags  of  chaff,  straw,  and 
such  like  pliable  matter,  which  conquered  the  engines  of  the  Christians 
by  yielding  unto  them.  As  for  one  sturdy  engine,  whose  force  would 
not  be  tamed,  they  brought  two  old  witches  on  the  walls  to  ehchant  it; 
but  the  spirit  thereof  was  too  strong  for  their  spells,  so  that  both  of 
them  were  miserably  slain  in  the  place. 

“  We  must  not  think  that  the  world  was  at  a  loss  for  war- tools  before 
the  brood  of  guns  was  hatched  :  it  had  the  battering-ramme,  first  found 
out  by  Epeus  at  the  taking  of  Troy ;  the  balista  to  discharge  great  stones, 
invented  by  the  Phenicians ;  the  catapulta,  being  a  sling  of  mighty 
strength,  whereof  the  Syrians  were  authors ;  and  perchance  King  Uzziah 
first  made  it,  for  we  find  him  very  dexterous  and  happy  in  devising  such 
things.  And  although  these  bear-whelps  were  but  rude  and  unshaped 
at  the  first,  yet  art  did  lick  them  afterward,  and  they  got  more  teeth 
and  sharper  nails  by  degrees  ;  so  that  every  age  set  them  forth  in  a  new 
edition,  corrected  and  amended.  But  these  and  many  more  voluminous 
engines  are  now  virtually  epitomized  in  the  cannon.  And  though  some 
say  that  the  finding  of  guns  hath  been  the  losing  of  many  men’s  lives, 
yet  it  will  appear  that  battles  now  are  fought  with  more  expedition,  and 
Victory  standetli  not  so  long  a  neuter,  before  she  express  herself  on  one 
side  or  other.” — Fuller’s  Holy  JVarre,  p.  41. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


257 


€he  third  Christian  who  stood  as  a  conqueror  upon  the  ram¬ 
parts  of  Jerusalem.  The  glorious  ensign  of  the  Cross 
streamed  from  the  walls,  and  the  whole  city  was  soon  at  the 
mercy  of  the  besiegers.  The  Mussulmans  fought  for  a 
while,  then  fled  to  their  temples,  and  submitted  their  necks 
to  the  sword.  The  victors,  in  a  document  which  is  still 
preserved,  boasted,  that  in  the  mosque  of  Omar,  whither 
they  pursued  the  fugitives,  they  rode  in  the  blood  of  Sara¬ 
cens  up  to  the  knees  of  their  horses. 

After  the  slaughter  had  terminated,  and  the  soldiers  had 
soothed  their  minds  by  certain  acts  of  devotion,  the  expe¬ 
diency  of  forming  a  regular  government  became  manifest  to 
all  parties.  Godfrey,  a  hero  whose  name  cannot  be  too 
highly  honoured,  was  chosen  by  the  unanimous  suffrages 
of  rival  warriors  to  be  the  lirst  Christian  king  of  Jerusalem. 
Bohemond,  the  son  of  Robert  Guiscard,  reigned  at  Antioch  ; 
Baldwin,  the  brother  of  Godfrey,  at  Edessa  ;  and  the  Count 
of  Toulouse,  at  Tripoli.  The  dominion  of  the  crusaders 
extended  from  the  confines  of  Egypt  to  the  Euphrates  on 
the  east,  and  to  the  acclivities  of  Mount  Taurus  on  the 
north ;  and  several  of  their  principalities  lasted  nearly  two 
hundred  years. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  defend  the  policy  and 
excuse  the  enormities  of  the  Christian  warriors  in  their  en¬ 
terprise  against  the  Moslem  occupants  of  the  Holy  Land. 
These  two  points  ought  to  be  more  carefully  distinguished 
than  they  usually  are,  whether  in  the  pages  of  friends  or  ene¬ 
mies  ;  for  while  the  general  expediency  of  a  combination  of 
the  Christian  powers  may  be  supported  on  good  grounds, 
the  cruelty  of  some  of  their  measures  deserves  the  severest 
censure.  It  is  remarked  by  Mr.  Mills,  that  the  massacre 
of  the  Saracens  on  the  capture  of  the  holy  city  did  not  pro¬ 
ceed  alone  from  the  inflamed  passions  of  victorious  soldiers, 
but  from  remorseless  fanaticism.  Benevolence  to  Turks, 
Jews,  infidels,  and  heretics  made  no  part  of  Christian  ethics 
in  those  rude  times ;  and  as  the  Moslem  in  their  consciences 
believed  it  was  the  will  of  Heaven  that  the  religion  of  their 
prophet  should  be  pr’opagatcd  by  the  sword,  so  their  antago¬ 
nists  laboured  under  the  mental  delusion  that  they  them¬ 
selves  were  the  ministers  of  God’s  wrath  on  a  disobedient 
and  stiff-necked  people.  The  Latins,  on  the  day  after  the 
victory,  massacred  three  hundred  men,  to  whom  Tancred 


258 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


and  Gaston  de  Bearn  had  promised  protection,  and  even 
given  a  standard  as  a  pledge  of  safety.  But  every  engage¬ 
ment  was  broken,  in  consequence  of  the  resolution  that  no 
pity  should  be  shown  to  the  Mohammedans, — an  expedient 
which  was  justified  by  the  opinion  now  prevalent  among 
the  invaders,  that  in  conjunction  with  the  Saracens  of 
Egypt  they  might  again  reduce  the  city  and  recover  all  the 
ground  they  had  lost.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  the  in¬ 
habitants  of  Jerusalem,  armed  and  unarmed,  were  dragged 
forth  into  the  public  squares,  and  slain  like  cattle.  Women 
with  children  at  the  breast,  boys,  and  even  girls  were 
slaughtered  indiscriminately,  and  in  such  numbers  that  the 
streets  were  covered  with  dead  bodies  and  mangled  limbs. 
No  heart  melted  into  compassion  or  expanded  into  benevo¬ 
lence.  The  stones  of  the  city  were  ordered  to  be  washed, 
and  the  melancholy  task  was  performed  by  some  Moslem 
slaves.  The  Count  of  Toulouse,  whose  avarice  prevailed 
over  his  superstition,  was  loudly  condemned  for  accepting  a 
ransom  from  a  few  of  the  devoted  prisoners,  whom  he  sent 
in  safety  to  Ascalon.  So  unrelenting,  in  short,  was  the 
passion  of  revenge  among  the  crusaders,  that  they  set  fire  to 
the  synagogues  of  the  Jews,  many  of  whom  perished  in  the 
flames.* 

Such  conduct  merits  the  deepest  execration  that  moralist 
or  statesman  may  be  pleased  to  pour  upon  it.  We  are 
nevertheless  convinced  that,  in  the  peculiar  circumstances 
of  the  Christian  world  when  Peter  the  Hermit  called  its 
chiefs  to  arms,  a  united  war  against  the  Mohammedan 
states  of  Syria  was  dictated  by  the  soundest  political  wis¬ 
dom.  The  subjects  of  Omar  had  already  conquered  an 
establishment  in  Sicily  and  Spain,  and  attempted  the  sub¬ 
jugation  of  France.  Their  views  were  directed  towards 
universal  dominion  in  the  West,  as  well  as  in  the  East ; 
they  hoped  to  witness  the  triumph  of  the  crescent  in  Europe 
not  less  certainly  than  in  Asia,  and  to  be  able  to  impose  a 
tribute  on  the  worshippers  of  Christ,  or  compel  them  to  re- 

*  Fuller  remarks,  that  “  this  second  massacre  was  no  slip  of  an  ex¬ 
temporary  passion,  but  a  studied  and  premeditated  act.  Besides,  the 
execution  was  merciless  upon  sucking  children  w'hose  not  speaking 
spake  for  them  ;  and  on  women  whose  weakness  is  a  shield  to  defend 
them  against  a  valiant  man.  To  conclude,  severity,  hot  in  the  fourth  de¬ 
gree,  is  little  better  than  poison,  and  becometh  cruelty  itself;  and  this 
act  seemeth  to  be  of  the  same  nature.”— Holy  Warre ,  p.  41, 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


259 


linquish  their  creed  on  the  remotest  shores  of  the  Atlantic. 
Those,  therefore,  who  perceive  in  the  Crusades  nothing  but 
a  mob  of  armed  pilgrims  running  to  rescue  a  tomb  in  Pales¬ 
tine  must  take  a  very  limited  view  of  history.  The  point 
in  question  was  not  merely  the  recovery  of  that  sacred  build¬ 
ing  from  the  hands  of  infidels,  but  rather  to  decide  which 
of  the  two  religions,  the  Christian  or  Mohammedan,  should 
predominate  in  the  world ;  the  one  hostile  to  civilization, 
and  only  favourable  to  ignorance,  despotism,  and  slavery  ; 
the  other  friendly  to  improvement,  learning,  and  freedom  in 
all  ranks  and  conditions  of  society. 

It  is  asserted  by  Chateaubriand,  that  whoever  reads  the 
address  of  Pope  Urban  to  the  council  of  Clermont  must  be 
convinced  that  the  leaders  in  these  military  enterprises  were 
not  actuated  by  the  petty  views  which  have  been  ascribed 
to  them ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  aspired  to  save 
the  Western  World  from  anew  inundation  of  barbarians. 
The  spirit  of  Islamism  is  conquest  and  persecution  ;  the 
gospel,  on  the  contrary,  inculcates  only  toleration  and 
peace.  The  Christians,  moreover,  had  endured  for  several 
centuries  all  the  oppressions  which  the  fanaticism  of  the 
Saracens  impelled  them  to  exercise.  They  had  merely  en¬ 
deavoured  to  interest  Charlemagne  in  their  favour ;  for  nei¬ 
ther  the  conquest  of  Spain,  the  invasion  of  France,  the  pil¬ 
lage  of  Greece  and  the  Two  Sicilies,  nor  the  entire  subjuga¬ 
tion  of  Africa,  could  for  nearly  six  hundred  years  rouse  the 
Christians  to  arms.  If  at  last  the  cries  of  numberless  vic¬ 
tims  slaughtered  in  the  East,  if  the  progress  of  the  barba¬ 
rians,  who  had  already  reached  the  gates  of  Constantinople, 
awakened  Christendom,  and  impelled  it  to  rise  in  its  own 
defence,  who  can  say  that  the  cause  of  the  Holy  Wars  was 
unjust?  Contemplate  Greece,  if  you  would  know  the  fate 
of  a  people  subjected  to  the  Mussulman  yoke.  Would  those 
who  at  this  day  so  loudly  exult  in  the  progress  of  knowledge 
wish  to  live  under  a  religion  that  burned  the  Alexandrian 
library,  which  makes  a  merit  of  trampling  mankind  under 
foot,  and  holding  literature  and  the  arts  in  sovereign  con¬ 
tempt  ?  The  Crusades,  by  weakening  the  Moslem  hordes 
in  the  very  centre  of  Asia,  prevented  Europe  from  falling  a 
prey  to  the  Turks  and  Arabs ;  they  did  more,  they  saved  her 
from  revolutions  at  home,  with  which  she  was  threatened ; 
they  suspended  intestine  wars  by  which  she  was  ever  and 


2G0 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


anon  desolated ;  and,  finally,  they  opened  an  outlet  to  that 
excess  of  population  which  sooner  or  later  occasions  the 
ruin  of  nations.* 

The  administration  of  Godfrey  was  gentle  and  prosper¬ 
ous.  He  gained  a  decisive  victory  over  the  Vizier  of 
Egypt,  who  had  encamped  on  the  plains  of  Ascalon  with 
the  view  of  assisting  his  Syrian  allies  to  recover  Jerusalem 
from  the  hands  of  the  Christians.  According  to  the  spirit  * 
of  the  age,  he  joined  to  the  qualities  of  a  brave  soldier  the 
profession  of  an  ardent  faith  and  the  utmost  reverence  for 
the  authority  of  the  church.  He  refused  a  precious  diadem 
offered  to  him  by  his  companions  in  arms,  declaring  that  he 
would  never  wear  a  crown  of  gold  in  the  city  where  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  had  worn  a  crown  of  thorns.  In  the 
same  feeling  he  was  disposed  to  reject  the  title  of  king  and 
to  exercise  his  office  under  the  name  of  Defender  and 
Baron  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

Upon  the  demise  of  this  distinguished  commander,  which 
is  supposed  to  have  taken  place  at  Jaffa,  the  government 
devolved  upon  his  brother  Baldwin,  who  sustained  its  glory 
and  interests  with  a  steady  hand.  About  the  year  11 18,  he 
was  succeeded  on  his  throne  by  his  nephew,  who  bore  the 
same  name,  and  who,  although  sometimes  unfortunate,  did 
not  tarnish  the  honour  of  his  family.  Melisandra,  his 
eldest  daughter,  married  Foulques  of  Anjou,  and  conveyed 
the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  into  the  hand  of  her  husband, 
who  enjoyed  it  ten  or  twelve  years,  when  he  lost  his  life 
by  a  fall  from  a  horse.  His  son,  Baldwin  the  Third,  a 
youth  of  a  rash  temper  and  destitute  of  experience,  assumed 
the  sceptre  of  Jerusalem,  which  he  held  twenty  years, — a 
period  rendered  remarkable  by  the  events  of  the  second 
Crusade,  and  the  rise  of  various  orders  of  knighthood, — 
the  Hospitallers,  Templars,  and  Cavaliers. 

The  news  from  Palestine,  that  certain  reverses  had  been 
sustained  by  the  Christians,  acted  so  powerfully  on  the  pious 
spirit  of  St.  Bernard  and  the  troubled  conscience  of  Louis 

*  On  this  interesting  subject  we  refer  to  the  “  Itin^raire”  of  Chateau¬ 
briand,  and  his  “  Genie  du  Christianisme the  History  of  England  by 
Sir  James  Mackintosh,  volume  first ;  and  to  Mills’s  History  of  the  Cru¬ 
sades,  volume  first,  chapter  sixth.  We  may  add  Dr.  Robertson’s  “  His¬ 
torical  Disquisition  concerning  the  Knowledge  which  the  Ancients  had 
of  India.” 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


261 


the  Seventh,  the  king  of  France,  as  to  suggest  a  second 
confederation  among  European  princes  for  the  security  of 
the  Holy  Land.  This  new  apostle  of  a  sacred  war  was, 
on  many  accounts,  greatly  superior  to  Peter  the  Hermit. 
He  was  a  man  of  noble  birth  ;  possessed  learning  sufficient 
to  rival  the  attainments  of  Abelard,  his  contemporary  ;  and 
could  speak  with  a  degree  of  eloquence  to  which  no  orator 
of  his  age  had  the  boldness  to  aspire.  The  French  mon¬ 
arch,  who  had  assembled  around  him  a  powerful  and  roost 
splendid  army,  was  joined  by  the  Emperor  of  Germany, 
Conrade  the  Third,  whose  thousands  equalled  those  of  his 
W'arlike  brother,  and  whose  zeal  in  the  cause  of  Christendom 
was  not  less  active. 

But  the  experience  of  their  predecessors,  fifty  years  before, 
was  lost  upon  these  fearless  soldiers  of  the  Cross.  Without 
suitable  preparation,  they  encountered  the  dangers  of  a  long 
march  through  hostile  countries  and  sickly  climates,  the 
effects  of  which  appeared  in  the  rapid  diminution  of  their 
numbers,  in  mutual  invectives,  and  in  increasing  despair. 
Not  more  than  a  tenth  part  of  the  Germans  reached  the 
coast  of  Syria.  The  French,  who  had  suffered  less  than 
their  allies,  were  sooner  ready  to  take  the  field  against  the 
Saracens  ;  and  after  proving  their  arms  in  a  few  unim¬ 
portant  skirmishes,  they  resolved  to  lay  siege  to  Damascus 
in  concert  with  the  battalions  of  Conrade.  But  the  evil 
genius  of  intrigue  defeated  their  designs.  After  a  fruitless 
display  of  a  force  more  than  sufficient  to  have  reduced  the 
place,  the  Christian  chiefs  withdrew  from  before  the  ram¬ 
parts  of  the  Syrian  capital,  and  fell  back  upon  Jerusalem 
in  sorrow  and  shame.  Conrade  soon  returned  to  Europe 
with  the  shattered  remains  of  his  gallant  host ;  and  about 
a  year  afterward  his  example  was  imitated  by  the  French 
king  and  the  greater  number  of  his  generals,  who  were  dis¬ 
gusted  with  the  narrow  policy  on  which  the  war  had  been 
conducted. 

Baldwin  the  Third,  dying  without  male  issue,  transmitted 
the  precarious  throne  of  Jerusalem  to  his  brother  Amaury, 
or  Almeric ;  who,  after  a  reign  of  eleven  years,  was  suc¬ 
ceeded  by  his  son,  Baldwin  the  Fourth.  The  young  sove¬ 
reign,  being  incapable  of  the  duties  of  government,  passed 
his  minority  under  the  wise  counsels  of  Raymond,  Count 
of  Tripoli,  who  endeavoured  to  sustain  the  weight  of  kingly 


26  2 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


power  in  the  midst  of  very  formidable  enemies.  The  name 
of  Noureddin  was  long  terrible  to  the  Christians  of  Pales¬ 
tine,  who  had  gradually  lost  their  warlike  virtues  ;  but  they 
were  now  about  to  encounter  a  still  more  able,  and  much 
more  celebrated  antagonist,  in  the  person  of  Saladin,  the 
hero  of  the  Crescent,  and  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
leaders  of  that  very  romantic  age. 

Baldwin  had  given  his  sister  Sybilla,  widow  of  William, 
surnamed  Longue-Epee,  or  the  Long-sword,  in  marriage  to 
Guy  of  Lusignan.  The  grandees  of  the  kingdom,  dissatis¬ 
fied  with  the  choice,  divided  into  parties.  The  king,  dying 
in  1184,  left  for  his  heir  Baldwin  the  Fifth,  the  son  of  Sy¬ 
billa  and  William  just  mentioned,  a  child  not  more  than 
eight  years  of  age,  and  who  soon  afterward  sunk  under  a 
constitutional  distemper.  His  mother  caused  the  crown  to 
be  conferred  on  her  husband,  the  ambitious  Guy, — a  mea¬ 
sure  which  did  not  allay  the  jealousy  of  the  nobles  who  had 
opposed  their  union.  An  alarming  dissension  prevailed 
among  the  barons,  some  of  whom  refused  to  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  new  sovereign,  and  even  offered  the 
diadem  to  Humphrey  de  Thoron.  But  the  intrigues  of 
Sybilla  and  the  terror  of  Saladin  prevented  an  open  rupture, 
while  events  of  a  more  important  nature  were  about  to 
occupy  the  attention  of  either  party. 

The  sultan  had  received  from  several  of  the  Christian 
warriors  just  ground  of  offence,  and  failing  to  obtain 
redress  from  the  feeble  government  of  Jerusalem,  he  took 
the  field  in  order  to  chastise  with  his  own  hand  the  more 
guilty  of  the  aggressors.  He  encamped  near  the  Lake  of 
Tiberias,  where  Guy,  listening  to  counsellors  who  saw  not 
the  danger  of  placing  the  fortunes  of  the  kingdom  on  the 
issue  of  a  single  battle,  resolved  to  attack  him.  For  a  whole 
day  the  engagement  was  in  suspense,  and  at  night  the 
Latins  retired  to  some  rocks  in  the  neighbourhood,  hoping 
that  they  might  find  a  little  water  to  quench  their  thirst. 
At  the  approach  of  dawn  the  two  armies  stood  for  a  while 
gazing  upon  each  other,  as  if  conscious  that  the  fate  of  the 
Moslem  and  the  Christian  worlds  was  in  their  hands.  But 
no  sooner  did  the  sun  appear  than  the  Crusaders  raised  their 
war-cry,  and  the  Turks  sounded  their  trumpets  and  atabals, 
— a  mutual  challenge  to  renew  the  sanguinary  conflict.  The 
bishops  and  clergy  ran  through  the  ranks  cheering  the  sol- 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


263 


diers  of  the  church.  A  fragment  of  the  true  cross,  in¬ 
trusted  to  the  knights  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  was  placed 
on  a  hillock,  around  which  the  broken  squadrons  repeatedly 
rallied,  and  recovered  strength  for  the  combat  whereon  the 
interests  of  their  faith  were  suspended.  But  the  Crescent, 
supported  by  more  numerous  and  stronger  hands,  triumphed 
on  the  plain  of  Tiberias.  The  Christians  were  defeated 
with  great  loss  ;  the  king,  the  Master  of  the  Templars,  and 
the  Marquis  of  Montferrat  were  taken  prisoners,  and  the 
piece  of  holy  wood,  in  which  they  had  put  their  trust,  was 
snatched  from  the  grasp  of  the  Bishop  of  Acre. 

This  victory  placed  the  greater  part  of  Palestine  in  the 
power  of  Saladin,  who,  upon  the  whole,  used  his  success 
with  moderation  and  clemency.  The  fugitives  from  every 
quarter  fled  to  Jerusalem,  hoping  to  escape  in  that  asylum 
the  swords  and  fetters  of  the  Turks.  One  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  persons  are  said  to  have  been  crowded  within  the 
walls  ;  but  so  few  w'ere  the  soldiers,  and  so  feeble  was  the 
government  of  the  queen,  that  the  holy  city  presented  no 
serious  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  the  Moslem  arms. 
Saladin  declared  his  unwillingness  to  stain  with  human 
blood  a  place  which  even  the  followers  of  the  Prophet  held 
in  reverence,  as  having  been  sanctified  by  the  presence  of 
many  inspired  individuals.  He  therefore  promised  to  the 
people,  on  condition  that  they  would  quietly  surrender  the 
city,  a  supply  of  money,  and  lands  in  the  most  fertile  pro¬ 
vinces  of  Syria. 

This  offer  was  rejected,  as  implying  a  sacrilegious  con¬ 
tract  to  yield  into  the  hands  of  infidels  the  sacred  spot 
where  the  Saviour  of  mankind  had  died.  He  therefore 
swore  that  he  would  enter  their  streets  sword  in  hand,  and 
retaliate  upon  them  the  dreadful  carnage  which  the  Franks 
had  committed  in  the  days  of  Godfrey.  Two  weeks  were 
spent  in  almost  incessant  fighting,  during  which  the  advan¬ 
tage  was  generally  on  the  side  of  the  assailants.  Finding 
resistance  vain,  the  besieged  at  length  appealed  to  the 
clemency  of  the  conqueror.  It  was  stipulated  that  the 
military  and  the  nobles  should  be  escorted  to  Tyre,  and 
that  the  inhabitants  should  become  slaves,  if  not  ransomed 
at  certain  rates  fixed  by  Saladin.  Thus,  to  use  the  words 
of  the  historian,  “  after  four  days  had  been  consumed  by 
the  miserable  inhabitants,  in  weeping  over  and  embracing 


264 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  other  sacred  places,  the  Latins  left 
the  city  and  passed  through  the  enemy’s  camp.  Children 
of  all  ages  clung  round  their  mothers,  and  the  strength  of 
the  fathers  was  used  in  bearing  away  some  little  part  of 
their  household  furniture.  In  solemn  procession,  the  clergy, 
the  queen,  and  her  retinue  of  ladies  followed.  Saladin 
advanced  to  meet  them,  and  his  heart  melted  with  compas¬ 
sion  when  he  saw  them  approach  in  the  attitude  of  sup¬ 
pliants.”  The  softened  warrior  uttered  some  expressions 
of  pity  ;  and  the  women,  encouraged  by  his  tenderness, 
declared,  that  by  pronouncing  one  word  he  might  remove 
their  distress.  “  Our  fortunes  and  possessions,”  said  they, 
“  you  may  freely  enjoy  ;  but  restore  to  us  our  fathers,  our 
husbands,  and  our  brothers.  With  these  dear  objects  we 
cannot  be  entirely  miserable.  They  will  take  care  of  us  ; 
and  that  God  whom  we  reverence,  and  who  provides  for  the 
birds  of  the  air,  will  not  forget  our  children.”  Saladin  was 
a  barbarian  in  nothing  but  the  name.  With  the  most 
courteous  generosity,  he  released  all  the  prisoners  whom  the 
women  requested,  and  loaded  them  with  presents.  Nor 
was  this  action,  so  worthy  of  a  gentle  and  chivalrous 
knight,  the  consequence  of  a  merely  transient  feeling  of 
humanity  ;  for  when  he  had  entered  the  city  of  Jerusalem, 
and  heard  of  the  tender  care  with  which  the  military  friars 
of  St.  John  treated  their  sick  countrymen,  he  allowed  ten 
of  their  order  to  remain  in  the  hospital  till  they  could  fully 
complete  their  work  of  charity.* 

The  Mohammedans,  being  once  more  in  possession  of  the 
holy  walls,  took  down  the  great  cross  from  the  Church  of 
the  Sepulchre,  and  soiled  it  with  the  mire  of  the  streets. 
They  also  melted  the  bells  which  had  summoned  the  Chris¬ 
tians  to  devotion,  and  at  the  same  time  purified  the  Mosque 
of  Omar  by  a  copious  sprinkling  of  rose-water.  Ascalon, 
Laodicea,  Gabala,  Sidon,  Nazareth,  and  Bethlehem  opened 
their  gates  to  the  victorious  Saladin,  who,  indeed,  found  no 
town  of  consequence  able  to  resist  his  arms  except  Tyre, 
garrisoned  by  a  body  of  excellent  soldiers  under  the  gallant 
Conrade.  All  the  inhabitants  took  arms,  and  even  the 
women  shot  arrows  from  the  walls,  or  assisted  in  strength¬ 
ening  the  fortifications.  The  Saracens  cast  immense  stones 

*  Mills’s  History  of  the  Crusades,  vol.  ii.  p.  48. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


265 


into  the  place,  and  attacked  it  with  all  the  other  means  in 
their  power ;  but  the  spirit  of  freedom  triumphed  over  the 
thirst  of  revenge,  and  the  conqueror  of  Tiberias  was  finally 
compelled  to  relinquish  the  siege. 

The  intelligence  that  Jerusalem  had  fallen  under  the  do¬ 
minion  of  the  unbelievers  created  in  all  parts  of  Europe  a 
profound  sensation  of  grief  and  disappointment.  The 
clergy,  as  on  former  occasions,  preached  to  all  classes  the 
duty  and  honour  of  assuming  the  Cross,  and  even  of  dying 
in  the  service  of  the  Redeemer,  should  the  sacrifice  of  life 
be  required  at  their  hands.  But  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
eleventh  century  had  now  very  generally  passed  away. 
Every  family  had  to  lament  the  loss  of  kindred  in  the  field 
of  battle  or  in  the  bonds  of  a  hopeless  captivity  ;  and  hence, 
the  inducements  which  had  crowded  the  ranks  of  Godfrey 
and  Conrade  were  at  this  time  listened  to  both  in  France 
and  England  with  comparative  indifference. 

At  length,  however,  about  the  year  1190,  Philip  Augus¬ 
tus,  the  French  king,  the  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa  of 
Germany,  and  the  celebrated  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  raising  forces,  with  the  view  of  wresting  once 
more  the  Holy  Land  from  the  thraldom  of  the  Saracens. 
Philip  received  the  staff  and  scrip  at  St.  Denys,  and  Richard 
at  Tours.  They  joined  their  armies  at  Yezelay,  the  gross 
amount  of  which  was  computed  at  one  hundred  thousand, 
and  marched  to  Jjyons  in  company.  There  the  royal  com¬ 
manders  separated  ;  the  former  pursued  the  road  to  Genoa, 
the  latter  to  Marseilles, — the  is.land  of  Sicily  being  named 
as  the  place  of  their  next  meeting. 

Among  the  other  fruits  of  the  victory  of  Tiberias  reaped 
by  the  brave  Saladin  was  the  possession  of  Acre,  or  Ptole- 
mais,  one  of  the  most  valuable  ports  on  the  coast  of  Syria. 
The  Crusaders,  aware  that  they  could  not  maintain  their 
ground  in  the  East  without  a  constant  communication  with 
Europe,  resolved  to  recover  this  city  at  whatever  expense 
of  life  or  treasure ;  and  with  this  view  they  had  invested  it 
more  than  twenty-two  months  before  Richard  could  carry 
his  reinforcements  into  Palestine.  Upon  his  arrival,  an 
unhappy  jealousy  arose  between  him  and  the  King  of  France, 
which  divided  the  Christians  into  two  great  parties  ;  nor  was 
it  until  each  had  attempted  with  his  separate  force  to  ascend 
the  ramparts  of  Ptolemais,  and  had  even  been  repulsed  with 


266 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


great  loss,  that  they  consented  to  unite  their  squadrons,  and 
act  in  unison.  A  reconciliation  being  effected,  it  was  de¬ 
termined  that  the  one  should  attack  the  walls,  while  the 
other  guarded  the  camp  from  the  approaches  of  Saladin. 
But  the  town  had  already  suffered  so  dreadfully  from  the 
length  of  the  siege,  now  extended  to  about  two  years,  that 
the  garrison  were  disposed  to  sue  for  terms.  The  sultan 
endeavoured  to  infuse  his  own  invincible  spirit  into  the 
minds  of  his  people,  and  to  revive  for  a  moment  their  lan¬ 
guid  courage,  by  turning  their  hopes  to  Egypt,  whence  suc¬ 
cour  was  expected.  As  no  aid  appeared,  the  citizens  wrung 
from  him  permission  to  capitulate.  They  were  accordingly 
allowed  to  purchase  their  safety  by  consenting  to  deliver 
the  city  into  the  hands  of  the  two  kings,  together  with  five 
hundred  Christian  prisoners  who  were  confined  in  it.  The 
true  cross  also  was  to  be  restored,  with  one  thousand  such 
captives  as  might  be  selected  by  the  allies  ;  it  being  cove¬ 
nanted,  at  the  same  time,  that  unless  the  Mussulmans 
within  forty  days  paid  to  Richard  and  Philip  the  sum  of  two 
hundred  thousand  pieces  of  gold,  the  inhabitants  of  Acre 
should  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  conquerors. 

It  was  on  the  12th  of  July,  1191,  that  Ptolemais  was  re¬ 
covered  by  the  Europeans  ;  and  in  the  following  month, 
Richard  (for  the  King  of  France  had  already  turned  his 
face  homewards)  gained  an  important  victory  over  Saladin 
at  Azotus.  The  progress  of  Cceur  de  Lion  being  no  longer 
disputed,  he  quickly  arrived  at  Jaffa.  That  city  was  now 
without  fortifications ;  for  when  the  tide  of  conquest  ebbed 
from  the  Moslem,  their  commander  gave  orders  to  dismantle 
all  the  fortresses  in  Palestine.  It  was  his  policy  to  keep 
the  invaders  constantly  in  the  field,  and  to  exhaust  them  by 
incessant  marching  and  sudden  attacks.  Some  time  was 
accordingly  lost  in  restoring  the  works  of  this  ancient  town, 
— a  period  which  was  employed  by  the  enemy  in  recruiting 
their  ranks,  and  preparing  to  contest  once  more  the  laurels 
gained  by  the  conquerors  of  Azotus. 

Richard,  still  full  of  confidence,  declared  to  the  Saracens 
that  the  only  way  of  averting  his  wrath  was  to  surrender 
the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  as  it  existed  in  the  reign  of  Bald¬ 
win  the  Fourth.  Saladin  did  not  reject  this  proposal  with 
the  disdain  which  he  felt,  but  made  a  modification  of  the 
terms,  by  offering  to  yield  all  of  Palestine  that  lay  between 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


267 


the  river  Jordan  and  the  Mediterranean.  The  negotiation 
lasted  some  time  without  farther  concession  on  either  side, 
when  at  length  it  became  manifest  that  the  enemy  were  not 
in  earnest,  but  merely  sought  to  derive  advantage  from  the 
delay  which  they  had  the  ingenuity  to  create.  Hence  the 
meditated  attack  on  Jerusalem  was  postponed,  and  dissen¬ 
sion  began  to  prevail  in  the  ranks  of  Plantagenet.  The 
winter  was  passed  amid  privations  of  every  description, 
which,  as  they  were  partly  owing  to  the  negligence  of  the 
king,  gave  rise  to  numerous  desertions.  The  inactive  sea¬ 
son  of  the  year  was  occupied  in  rebuilding  the  walls  of  As- 
calon, — a  task  in  which  the  proudest  nobles  and  the  most 
dignified  clergy  laboured  like  the  meanest  of  the  people. 
On  the  return  of  spring  both  armies  appeared  in  the  field ; 
but  as  political  disturbances  in  England  demanded  the 
presence  of  Richard,  he  manifested  for  the  first  time  a  greater 
disposition  to  negotiate  than  to  fight.  He  made  known  to 
Saladin  that  he  would  be  satisfied  with  the  possession’of  the 
holy  city  and  of  the  true  cross.  But  the  latter  replied,  that 
Jerusalem  was  as  dear  to  the  Moslem  as  to  the  Christian 
world  ;  and,  moreover,  that  he  would  never  be  guilty  of  con¬ 
niving  at  idolatry  by  permitting  the  worship  of  a  piece  of 
wood.  Thwarted  by  the  religious  prejudices  of  his  enemies, 
the  English  commander  attempted  a  different  expedient. 
He  proposed  a  consolidation  of  the  Christian  and  Moham¬ 
medan  interests,  the  establishment  of  a  government  at  Jeru¬ 
salem,  partly  European ‘and  partly  Asiatic  ;  and  this  scheme 
of  policy  was  to  be  carried  into  effect  by  the  marriage  of 
Saphadin,  the  brother  of  the  sultan,  with  the  widow  of  Wil¬ 
liam,  King  of  Sicily.  The  Moslem  princes  would  have 
acceded  to  these  terms but  the  union  was  thought  to  be  so 
scandalous  to  religion,  that  the  imans  and  priests  raised  a 
storm  of  clamour  against  it ;  and  Richard  and  Saladin, 
accordingly,  though  the  most  powerful  and  determined  men 
of  their  age,  were  compelled  to  submit  to  popular  opinion. 

In  the  month  of  May,  therefore,  Cceur  de  Lion  began  his 
march  towards  Jerusalem,  with  the  firm  resolution  of  accom¬ 
plishing  the  main  object  of  his  armament.  The  generals 
and  soldiers  vowed  that  they  would  not  leave  Palestine  until 
they  should  have  redeemed  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Every 
thing  wore  the  face  of  joy  when  this  resolution  was  an¬ 
nounced.  Hymns  and  thanksgivings  gave  utterance  to  the 


268 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


general  exultation.  Terror  seized  the  Mussulmans  who 
were  appointed  to  defend  the  sacred  walls,  and  even  Saladin 
himself  gave  way  to  apprehension  for  their  safety.  The 
Crusaders  arrived  at  Bethlehem  ;  and  here  the  stout  mind 
of  Plantagenet  began  to  vacillate.  He  avowed  his  doubts 
as  to  the  policy  of  a  siege,  as  his  force  was  not  adequate  to 
such  a  measure,  and  also  to  the  regular  maintenance  of  his 
communications  with  the  coast,  whence  his  supplies  must 
be  derived.  He  submitted  his  difficulties  to  the  barons  of 
Syria,  the  Templars,  and  Hospitallers,  declaring  his  readi¬ 
ness  to  abide  by  their  decision,  whether  it  should  be  to  ad¬ 
vance  or  to  retreat.  These  officers  received  information 
that  the  Turks  had  destroyed  all  the  cisterns  which  were 
within  two  miles  of  the  city,  and  they  felt  that  the  intole¬ 
rable  heats  of  summer  had  begun  ;  for  which  reason,  it  was 
resolved  that  the  attack  on  Jerusalem  should  be  deferred, 
and  that  the  army,  meantime,  should  proceed  to  some  other 
conquest. 

Saladin,  aware  of  the  hesitation  which  had  chilled  the 
wonted  ardour  of  his  foe,  resolved  to  profit  by  this  turn  of 
affairs,  so  little  to  be  expected  under  such  a  leader.  He 
advanced  by  forced  marches  to  Jaffa,  with  the  view  of  re¬ 
ducing  it  before  Richard  could  send  relief.  Attacking  it 
with  his  usual  vigour,  he  succeeded  in  breaking  down  one 
of  the  gates  ;  and  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  could  not  defend 
themselves  in  the  great  tower  or  escape  by  sea  were  put  to 
the  sword.  Already  were  the  battering-rams  prepared  to 
demolish  that  fortress,  when  the  patriarch  and  some  French 
and  English  knights  agreed  to  become  the  prisoners  of  the 
sultan,  fixing,  at  the  same  time,  a  heavy  sum  for  the  ransom 
of  the  citizens,  if  succour  did  not  arrive  during  the  next 
day.  Before  the  morning,  however,  the  brave  Plantagenet 
reached  Jaffa  ;  and  so  furious  was  his  onset,  that  the  Turks 
immediately  deserted  the  town  ;  while  their  army,  which 
was  encamped  at  a  little  distance,  no  sooner  saw  the  stand¬ 
ard  of  Richard  on  the  walls,  than  they  retreated  some  miles 
into  the  interior. 

But  the  English  chieftain,  harassed  by  unfavourable 
tidings  from  home,  and  perplexed  by  dissensions  in  his 
camp,  became  heartily  desirous  of  peace.  Nor  was  Saladin 
less  willing  to  grant  repose  to  his  country,  now  exhausted  by 
protracted  wars.  The  two  heroes  exchanged  expressions  of 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


269 


mutual  esteem ;  but  as  Richard  had  often  avowed  his  contempt 
for  the  vulgar  obligation  of  oaths,  they  only  grasped  each 
other’s  hands  in  token  of  fidelity.  A  truce  was  agreed  upon 
for  three  years  and  eight  months  ;  the  fort  of  Ascalon  was 
dismantled  ;  but  Jaffa  and  Tyre,  with  the  intervening  terri¬ 
tory,  were  surrendered  to  the  Europeans.  It  was  provided, 
also,  that  the  Christians  should  be  at  liberty  to  perform 
their  pilgrimages  to  Jerusalem,  exempted  from  the  taxes 
which  the  Moslem  princes  were  wont  to  impose.* 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1192,  Richard  the  Lion- 
hearted  withdrew  from  the  Holy  Land  on  his  way  to  Eng¬ 
land, — a  journey  beset  with  many  perils  and  adventures, 
which  it  is  no  part  of  our  task  to  describe.  We  are  told 
that  his  valour  struck  such  terror  into  his  enemies,  that  long 
after  his  death,  when  a  horse  trembled  without  any  visible 
cause,  the  Saracens  were  accustomed  to  say  that  he  had 
seen  the  ghost  of  the  English  prince.  In  a  familiar  con¬ 
versation  which  Saladin  held  with  the  warlike  Bishop  of 
Salisbury,  he  expressed  his  admiration  of  the  bravery  of  his 
rival,  but  added,  that  he  thought  “  the  skill  of  the  general 
did  not  equal  the  valour  of  the  knight.”  The  courteous 
prelate  replied  to  this  remark,  the  justice  of  which,  perhaps, 
he  could  not  question,  by  assuring  the  sultan  that  there 
were  not  two  such  warriors  in  the  world  as  the  English  and 
the  Syrian  monarchs.  Without  entering  minutely  into  the 
comparison  of  two  characters  which  presented  little  in  com¬ 
mon,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  the  courage  of  Richard 
at  the  head  of  his  gallant  troops  prevented  many  of  the  evils 
which  had  been  anticipated  from  the  defeat  at  Tiberias. 
Palestine  did  not,  as  was  apprehended,  become  a  Moslem 
eolony.  A  portion  of  the  seacoast,  too,  was  preserved  for 
the  Christians  ;  while  their  great  enemy  was  so  enfeebled 
by  repeated  discomfitures,  that  fresh  hostilities  could  be 
safely  commenced  whenever  Europe  should  again  find  it 
expedient  to  send  into  the  East  a  renewed  host  of  military 
adventurers.  Richard,  besides,  gained  more  honour  in 
Syria  than  any  of  the  German  emperors  or  French  kings 
who  had  sought  renown  in  foreign  war ;  and  although  a 
rigid  wisdom  might  censure  his  conduct  as  unprofitable  to 

*  Mills’s  History  of  the  Crusades,  vol.  ii.  p.  129.  Michaud,  Histoire 
des  Croisades,  tom.  iii.  p.  167. 

Z  2 


270 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


his  country,  it  must  be  admitted  that  his  actions  were  iri 
unison  with  the  spirit  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  when 
valour  was  held  more  important  than  the  acquisition  of 
wealth,  and  achievements  in  the  field  were  esteemed  more 
highly  than  the  most  beneficial  results  of  victory. 

Saladin  did  not  long  survive  the  departure  of  his  distin¬ 
guished  rival.  He  died  in  the  year  1193;  leaving  direc¬ 
tions,  that  on  the  day  of  his  funeral  a  shroud  should  be 
borne  on  the  point  of  a  spear,  and  a  herald  proclaim  in  a 
loud  voice,  “  Saladin,  the  conqueror  of  Asia,  out  of  all  the 
fruits  of  his  victories,  carries  with  him  only  this  piece  of 
linen.”  The  soldiers  of  this  distinguished  sultan  rallied 
round  his  brother  Saphadin,  whom  they  raised  to  the 
throne.  Nor  did  the  new  monarch  disappoint  the  expecta¬ 
tions  that  were  entertained  of  his  wisdom  and  valour ;  for 
by  the  exertions  of  military  skill,  as  well  as  by  a  sagacious 
policy,  he  strengthened  the  government  which  was  com¬ 
mitted  to  his  hands,  and  was  found,  at  the  expiration  of  the 
truce,  ready  to  meet  the  armies  of  the  combined  powers  of 
Christendom. 

The  fourth  Crusade  was  called  into  existence  by  the 
active  zeal  of  Pope  Celestine  the  Third,  and  of  Henry  the 
Sixth,  the  German  emperor,  who  was  joined  by  many  of 
the  subordinate  princes  of  Northern  Europe.  The  term 
of  peace  fixed  by  Richard  and  Saladin  had  indeed  expired  ; 
but  both  Christians  and  Moslem,  exhausted  by  war  and 
famine,  were  disposed  to  lengthen  the  period  of  repose,  and 
at  all  events  to  abstain  from  a  renewal  of  their  sanguinary 
conflicts.  Nevertheless,  when  the  new  champions  of  the 
Cross  arrived  at  Acre,  all  remonstrances  against  fresh  ag¬ 
gression  were  disregarded.  Saphadin,  who  was  informed 
of  their  hostile  intentions,  anticipated  them  in  the  field, 
and  before  they  could  advance  to  Jaffa,  he  had  battered  down 
the  fortifications,  and  put  thousands  of  the  inhabitants  to 
the  sword.  A  general  action,  it  is  true,  took  place  soon 
afterward,  in  which  the  strength  and  discipline  of  the  Ger¬ 
mans  secured  the  victory  ;  but,  when  advancing  to  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  the  conquerors  allowed  themselves  to  be  turned  aside 
in  order  to  reduce  the  insignificant  fortress  of  Thoron, 
where  they  met  with  a  repulse  so  serious  as  to  defeat  the 
main  object  of  the  campaign.  Factious  contentions  now 
disturbed  the  councils  of  the  Latins ;  vice  and  insubordi- 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


271 


nation  raged  in  the  camp ;  and,  to  crown  their  miseries, 
the  Crusaders  were  informed  that  the  Sultans  of  Egypt  and 
Syria  were  concentrating  their  troops  with  the  view  of 
attacking  them.  Alarmed  at  this  intelligence,  the  German 
princes  deserted  their  posts  in  the  night,  and  fled  to  Tyre  ; 
the  road  to  which  was  soon  filled  with  soldiers  and  baggage 
in  indiscriminate  confusion  ;  the  feeble  relinquishing  their 
property,  and  the  cowardly  casting  away  their  arms. 

Another  battle  took  place  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Jaffa, 
which  terminated,  as  before,  to  the  advantage  of  the  Chris¬ 
tians.  But  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Henry,  the  patron  of 
the  expedition,  again  disconcerted  their  measures.  Many 
returned  to  Europe  to  assist  at  the  election  of  his  suc¬ 
cessor  ;  while  the  residue  of  the  army,  thrown  into  a  fatal 
confidence  by  their  late  triumphs,  were  destroyed  by  a  body 
•of  Turkish  auxiliaries,  who  surprised  them  during  the  revels 
in  which  they  commemorated  the  virtues  and  abstinence  of 
St.  Martin. 

The  crown  of  Palestine  meantime,  greatly  shorn  of  its 
lustre,  had  devolved  upon  Isabella,  daughter  of  Baldwin 
and  sister  to  Gybilla.  Her  third  husband,  Henry,  Count 
of  Champagne,  was  acknowledged  as  king  ;  and  upon  his 
death  she  was  advised  to  give  her  hand  to  Almeric  of  Lu- 
signan,  the  brother  of  Guy,  who  had  formerly  swayed  the 
sceptre.  This  union  being  approved  by  the  clergy  and 
barons,  the  marriage  was  celebrated  at  Acre,  where  Almeric 
and  Isabella  were  proclaimed  the  sovereigns  of  Cyprus  and 
Jerusalem. 

The  repeated  failure  of  the  Christian  armaments  im¬ 
pressed  upon  the  people  of  Europe  a  belief,  either  that  the 
real  difficulties  of  the  enterprise  had  been  concealed  from 
them,  or  that  the  time  fixed  in  the  counsels  of  Providence 
for  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy  Land  had  not  yet  arrived. 
In  such  circumstances,  it  required  the  authority  of  the 
church  and  the  power  of  eloquence,  seconded  by  the  per¬ 
formance  of  numerous  miracles,  to  rouse  the  slumbering 
zeal  of  those  wrho  had  money  to  give  or  arms  to  use  in  the 
service  of  the  Cross.  Fulk,  the  preacher,  who  equalled 
Peter  the  Hermit  in  the  ardour  of  his  address,  and  Bernard 
in  oratorical  talents,  co-operated  with  the  pope,  Innocent 
the  Third,  in  convincing  the  several  kingdoms  under  his 


272  THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 

spiritual  dominion  of  the  necessity  of  a  fifth  combinea  eflfoTt, 
in  order  to  expel  the  infidels  from  the  sacred  inheritance. 

The  voice  of  religion  was  again  listened  to  with  pious 
obedience,  and  a  large  force  was  mustered  in  France  and 
the  Low  Countries.  As,  however,  the  arms  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  chiefs  on  this  occasion  were  not  employed  against  the 
Saracens,  but  against  their  own  brethren  of  the  Grecian 
empire,  the  object  of  our  work  does  not  require  that  we 
should  do  more  than  follow  their  steps  to  the  shores  of  the 
Bosphorus.  In  April,  1204,  Constantinople  fell  into  their 
hands,  and  was  subjected  to  all  the  horrors  and  indignity 
which  usually  punish  the  resistance  of  a  strong  city.  The 
remains  of  the  fine  arts,  which  the  Eastern  Church  had 
preserved  as  consecrated  memorials  of  her  triumph  over 
paganism,  were  destroyed  with  peculiar  industry  by  the  less 
polished  Latins,  who  were  pleased  to  view  with  contempt 
the  superior  taste  of  their  rivals.  The  establishment  of  the 
Crusaders  in  the  capital  of  the  Lower  Empire,  where  they 
elected  a  sovereign  and  formed  an  administration,  was  the 
only  result  of  the  fifth  expedition  against  the  Moslem. 
Their  dominion  lasted  fifty-seven  years,  at  the  end  of  which 
Manuel  Paleologus,  descendant  of  Lascaris,  and  son-in-law 
of  the  Emperor  Alexis,  recovered  the  throne  of  the  Cesars, 
and  finally  expelled  the  usurpers  from  the  city  of  Con¬ 
stantine. 

The  successes  of  the  French  against  the  Greeks  had, 
however,  an  indirect  influence  in  promoting  the  welfare  of 
the  Christians  in  Palestine.  The  Mussulmans  were 
alarmed,  and  Saphadin  gladly  concluded  a  truce  for  six 
years.  But  the  country  was  doomed  to  be  soon  deprived 
of  the  tranquillity  afforded  by  a  cessation  of  arms.  Alme- 
ric  and  his  wife  being  dead,  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Isabella 
by  Conrade  of  Tyre,  was  acknowledged  Queen  of  Jerusa¬ 
lem  ;  while  Hugh  de  Lusignan,  son  of  Almeric  by  his  first 
wife,  was  proclaimed  King  of  Cyprus.  There  was  not  at 
that  time  in  Palestine  any  powerful  nobleman  capable  of 
governing  the  state ;  on  which  account  the  civil  and  eccle¬ 
siastical  potentates  resolved  that  Philip  Augustus  of  France 
should  be  requested  to  provide  a  husband  for  Mary,  The 
French  monarch  fixed  his  eyes  on  John  de  Brienne,  who 
was  esteemed  among  the  knights  of  Europe  as  equally 
wise  in  council  and  experienced  in  war. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


273 


The  hopes  inspired  by  this  union  raised  the  pretensions 
of  the  Christian  community  so  high,  that  they  refused  to 
prolong  the  truce  which  still  subsisted  between  them  and 
the  sultan.  The  latter,  therefore,  marched  an  army  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  Tripoli,  and  threatened  hostilities.  The 
young  king  took  the  field  at  the  head  of  a  respectable  force, 
and  displayed  his  valour  in  many  a  fierce  encounter ;  and 
though  he  did  not  succeed  in  conquering  his  foes,  he  saved 
his  states  from  the  utter  annihilation  with  which  they  were 
threatened.  He  foresaw,  however,  the  approaching  ruin 
of  the  sacred  cause  ;  for  he  could  not  fail  to  observe  that, 
while  the  Saracens  were  constantly  acquiring  new  advan¬ 
tages,  the  Latin  barons  were  embracing  every  opportunity 
of  returning  home.  He  accordingly  wrote  to  the  pope,  that 
the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  consisted  only  of  two  or  three 
towns,  and  that  its  fate  must  already  have  been  determined 
but  for  the  civil  wars  which  had  raged  among  the  sons  of 
Saladin. 

His  holiness  was  not  deaf  to  a  remonstrance  so  just  and 
important.  In  a  circular  letter  to  the  sovereigns  of  Europe, 
he  reminded  them  that  the  time  was  now  come  when  a  suc¬ 
cessful  effort  might  be  made  to  secure  possession  of  Pales¬ 
tine,  and  that,  while  those  who  should  fight  faithfully  for 
God  would  obtain  a  crown  of  glory,  such  as  refused  to  serve 
him  would  be  punished  everlastingly.  He  employed,  among 
other  arguments,  a  consideration  which  has  since  been  often 
urged  by  Protestant  writers  against  his  own  church ; 
stating,  that  “  the  Mohammedan  heresy,  the  beast  foretold 
by  the  Spirit,  will  not  live  for  ever — its  age  is  666.”  He 
concluded  with  the  assurance,  that  Jesus  Christ  would  con¬ 
demn  them  for  gross  ingratitude  and  infidelity,  if  they 
neglected  to  march  to  his  succour  at  a  time  when  he  was  in 
danger  of  being  driven  from  a  kingdom  he  had  acquired  by 
his  own  blood. 

The  preacher  of  the  next  Crusade  was  Robert  de  Cour- 
qon,  a  man  inferior  in  talents  and  rank  to  St.  Bernard,  but 
whose  fanaticism  was  as  fervent  as  that  of  the  Hermit  and 
Fulk.  He  invited  all  to  assume  the  Cross,  and  enrolled  in 
the  sacred  militia  women,  children,  the  old,  the  blind,  the 
lame,  and  even  the  distempered.  The  multitude  of  Cru¬ 
saders,  as  might  be  expected,  was  very  great,  and  the  vol¬ 
untary  offerings  of  money  were  immense.  A  council  was 


274 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


held  in  the  church  of  the  Lateran,  in  which  the  Emperor 
of  Constantinople,  the  Kings  of  France,  England,  Hun¬ 
gary,  Jerusalem,  Arragon,  and  other  countries,  were  rep¬ 
resented.  War  against  the  Saracens  was  unanimously 
declared  to  be  the  most  sacred  duty  of  the  Christian  world. 
The  usual  privileges,  dispensations,  and  indulgences  were 
granted  to  the  pilgrims  ;  and  the  pope,  besides  other  ex¬ 
penses,  contributed  thirty  thousand  pounds. 

It  was  in  the  year  1216  that  the  sixth  Crusade,  consist¬ 
ing  chiefly  of  Hungarians  and  the  soldiers  of  Lower  Ger¬ 
many,  landed  at  Acre.  The  sons  of  Saphadin  were  now 
at  the  head  of  affairs  in  Syria,  their  father  having  retired 
from  the  fatigues  of  royalty ;  and,  although  unprepared  to 
oppose  so  large  a  host  with  any  prospect  of  success,  they 
mustered  what  forces  they  could  collect  and  advanced  to 
Naplosa,  the  modem  Nablous.  But  the  insubordination 
of  the  invaders  made  victory  more  easy  than  was  antici¬ 
pated.  Destitute  of  provisions,  they  wandered  over  the 
country,  committing  the  greatest  enormities,  and  suffering 
from  time  to  time  very  severe  losses  from  the  just  indigna¬ 
tion  of  the  inhabitants.  At  length  the  sovereign  of  Hun¬ 
gary,  disgusted  with  the  campaign,  refused  to  remain  any 
longer  in  Palestine, — a  defection  which  compelled  the  King 
of  Jerusalem,  the  Duke  of  Austria,  and  the  Master  of  the 
Hospitallers  to  take  up  a  defensive  position  on  the  Plain 
of  Cesarea.  The  knights  of  the  other  military  orders,  the 
Templar  and  Teutonic,  seized  upon  Mount  Carmel,  which 
they  fortified  for  the  occasion.  But  their  fears  were  re¬ 
lieved  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year  by  the  arrival  of 
a  large  body  of  new  and  most  zealous  Crusaders  from  the 
upper  parts  of  Germany.  Nearly  three  hundred  vessels 
sailed  from  the  Rhine,  which,  after  having  sustained  more 
than  the  usual  casualties  of  a  voyage  in  the  North  Sea, 
landed  on  the  shores  of  Syria  those  martial  bands  who  had 
assembled  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Elbe  and  the 
Weser. 

For  reasons  which  are  not  very  clearly  assigned,  but  hav¬ 
ing  some  reference,  it  may  be  conjectured,  to  the  exhausted 
state  of  the  country,  the  chiefs  of  the  Crusade  came  to  the 
resolution  of  withdrawing  their  troops  from  Palestine,  and 
of  carrying  the  war  into  Egypt.  Damietta,  not  unjustly 
regarded  as  the  key  of  that  kingdom  on  the  line  of  the 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM.  275 

coast,  was  made  the  first  object  of  attack  ;  and  so  vigorous 
were  the  approaches  of  the  assailants,  that  the  castle  or 
fortress,  which  was  supposed  to  command  the  town,  fell 
into  their  hands.  Meantime  a  reinforcement  from  Europe 
appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nile.  Italy  sent  forth  her 
choicest  soldiers,  headed  by  Pelagius  and  De  Courqon,  as  le¬ 
gates  of  the  pope.  The  Counts  of  Nevers  and  La  Marche,  the 
Archbishop  of  Bourdeaux,  the  Bishops  of  Meaux,  Autun, 
and  Paris,  led  the  youth  of  France  ;  while  the  English 
troops  were  conducted  by  the  Earls  of  Chester,  Arundel, 
and  Salisbury,  men  celebrated  for  their  heroism  and  expe¬ 
rience  in  the  field. 

The  tide  of  success  flowed  for  some  time  so  strongly  in 
favour  of  the  Christians,  that  the  Saracen  leaders  were 
desirous  to  conclude  a  peace  very  advantageous  to  their  in¬ 
vaders.  When  the  loss  of  Damietta  appeared  inevitable, 
the  Sultan  of  Syria,  Khamel,  the  son  of  Saphadin,  appre¬ 
hensive  that  the  Crusaders  would  immediately  advance 
against  Jerusalem,  issued  orders  to  destroy  the  fortifica¬ 
tions,  to  prevent  its  being  held  by  them  as  a  place  of  de¬ 
fence.  But  in  the  negotiation  which  was  opened  between 
the  contending  powers,  the  Mussulmans  consented  to  re¬ 
build  the  walls  of  the  sacred  city,  to  return  the  portion  of 
the  true  cross,  and  to  liberate  all  the  prisoners  in  Syria  and 
Egypt.  Of  the  whole  kingdom  of  Palestine,  they  pro¬ 
posed  to  retain  only  the  castles  of  Kurac  and  Montereale, 
as  necessary  for  the  safe  passage  of  pilgrims  and  merchants 
in  their  intercourse  with  Mecca.  As  an  equivalent  for 
these  important  concessions,  they  required  nothing  more 
than  the  instant  evacuation  of  Egypt,  and  a  complete  re¬ 
linquishment  of  the  conquests  which  had  been  recently 
made  in  it  by  the  arms  of  the  Crusaders. 

The  Christian  chiefs,  after  a  stormy  discussion,  deter¬ 
mined  to  reject  the  terms  offered  by  the  allied  sultans,  and 
to  prosecute  the  siege  of  Damietta.  This  devoted  town, 
having  been  invested  more  than  a  year  and  a  half,  was  at 
length  carried  by  assault ;  but  so  resolute  and  persevering 
had  been  the  defence,  that  of  seventy  thousand  inhabitants, 
who  were  shut  up  by  the  Crusaders,  only  three  thousand 
remained  to  witness  their  triumph. 

The  Saracens,  fatigued  with  the  horrors  of  war,  once 
more  proposed  a  treaty  on  terms  similar  to  those  which 


2  76 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


were  offered  before  the  fall  of  Damietta.  Bat  the  victors, 
whose  wisdom  in  council  was  never  equal  to  their  valour 
in  the  field  of  battle,  again  refused  to  conclude  a  peace.  The 
prevailing  party  recommended  an  immediate  attack  upon 
Grand  Cairo  ;  anticipating  the  reduction  of  the  whole  of 
Egypt,  and  the  final  subjection  of  all  the  Mohammedan 
states  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  This  vision  of 
greatness,  however,  soon  vanished  before  the  real  difficulties 
of  a  campaign  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  In  a  few  months 
the  leaders  of  the  expedition  found  themselves  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  soliciting  permission  to  return  into  Pales¬ 
tine  ;  consenting  to  purchase  safety  by  giving  up  all  the 
acquisitions  they  had  made  since  the  first  day  that  they 
opened  their  trenches  before  Damietta.  The  barons  of 
Syria  and  the  military  orders  retired  to  Acre,  where  they 
held  themselves  in  readiness  to  sustain  an  attack  from  the 
indignant  Moslems  ;  the  mass  of  the  volunteers  and  pil¬ 
grims  soon  afterward  procuring  the  means  of  returning  into 
Europe. 

Frederick  the  Second  of  Germany,  who  had  engaged  to 
lead  a  strong  force  into  Syria,  was  so  long  prevented  by 
domestic  cares  from  fulfilling  his  promise,  that  he  incurred 
the  resentment  of  the  pope,  who  actually  pronounced 
against  him  a  sentence  of  excommunication.*  The  em¬ 
peror,  at  length,  was  induced  to  marry  Yiolante,  the  daughter 
of  John  de  Brienne,  and  accept  as  her  dowry  the  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem.  In  the  year  1228  he  arrived  at  Acre,  with 
the  view  of  making  good  his  pretensions  to  the  sacred  dia¬ 
dem, — an  object  which  he  finally  attained,  not  less  by  the 
connivance  of  the  sultan  than  by  the  exertions  of  his  mili¬ 
tary  companions.  The  son  of  Saphadin  felt  his  throne 
rendered  insecure  by  the  ambition  or  treachery  of  his  own 
kindred,  and  was  therefore  much  inclined  to  cultivate  an 

*  A  curd  at  Paris,  instead  of  reading  the  bull  from  the  pulpit  in  the 
usual  form,  said  to  his  parishioners,  “You  know,  my  friends,  that  I  am 
ordered  to  fulminate  an  excommunication  against  Frederick.  I  know 
not  the  motive.  All  that  I  know  is,  that  there  has  been  a  quarrel  be¬ 
tween  that  prince  and  the  pope.  God  alone  knows  who  is  right.  I  ex¬ 
communicate  him  who  has  injured  the  other,  and  I  absolve  the  sufferer.” 
The  emperor  sent  a  present  to  the  preacher,  but  the  pope  and  the  king 
blamed  this  sally :  le  mauvais  plaisant — the  unhappy  wit — was  obliged 
to  expiate  his  fault  by  a  canonical  penance. — Mills's  History,  vol.  ii. 
p.  253. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


277 


amicable  feeling  with  so  powerful  a  prince  as  the  sovereign 
of  Germany.  In  pursuance  of  these  views  a  treaty  was 
signed,  providing  that  for  ten  years  the  Christians  and 
Mqpsulmans  were  to  live  on  a  footing  of  brotherhood  ;  that 
Jerusalem,  Jaffa,  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  and  their  depend¬ 
encies,  were  to  be  restored  to  the  former  ;  that  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  was  likewise  to  be  given  up  to  them  ;  and  that 
the  people  of  both  religions  might  offer  up  their  devotions  in 
that  house  of  prayer,  which  the  one  called  the  Temple  of 
Solomon,  and  the  other  the  Mosque  of  Omar.  Thus  the 
address  or  good  fortune  of  Frederick  more  effectually  pro¬ 
moted  the  object  of  the  Holy  Wars  than  the  heroic  phrensy 
of  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  ;  many  of  the  disasters  conse¬ 
quent  on  the  battle  of  Tiberias  were  wiped  away  ;  and  the 
hopes  of  Europe  for  a  permanent  settlement  in  Asia  ap¬ 
peared  to  be  realized. 

But  the  emperor  had  performed  all  these  services  while 
the  stain  of  excommunication  was  yet  unremoved  from  his 
character.  The  fidelity  of  the  knights,  accordingly,  whose 
oaths  had  a  reference  to  the  supremacy  of  the  church,  and 
the  attachment  of  the  clergy,  could  not  be  relied  upon. 
Hence,  when  he  went  to  Jerusalem  to  be  crowned,  the  pa¬ 
triarch  would  not  discharge  his  office  ;  the  places  of  worship 
were  closed  ;  and  no  religious  duties  were  observed  in  pub¬ 
lic  during  his  stay.  Frederick  repaired  to  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre,  surrounded  by  his  courtiers,  and  boldly 
taking  the  crown  from  the  altar,  placed  it  on  his  own  head. 
He  then  issued  orders  for  rebuilding  the  fortifications  of  his 
eastern  capital ;  after  which  he  returned  to  Acre,  whence 
he  almost  immediately  set  sail  for  Europe.* 

*  The  address  of  the  Pope  to  the  Fourth  Council  of  Lateran,  as  trans¬ 
lated  by  Michaud,  is  not  a  little  striking: — “  Ovous  qui  passez  dans  les 
chemins,  disait  Jerusalem  par  la  bouche  du  Pontife,  regardez  et  vnyez  si 
jamais  il  y  eut  une  douleur  semblable  d  la  mienne  !  Accourez  done 
tous,  6  vous  qui  me  cherissez,  pour  me  delivrer  de  l’excds  de  mes  mise- 
res  !  Moi,  qui  dtais  la  reque  de  toutes  les  nations,  je  suis  maintenant 
asservie  au  tribut ;  moi,  qui  etais  remplie  de  peuple,  je  suis  restee 
presque  seule.  Les  chemins  de  Sion  sont  en  deuil,  pareeque  personne  ne 
vient d  mes  solemnites.  Mes  ennemis  ont  ecrase  ma  tdte  ;  tous  les  lieux 
saints  sont  profanes  ;  le  saint  sepulchre,  si  rempli  d’eclat,  ’est  couvert 
d’opprobre ;  on  adore  le  fils  de  la  perdition  et  de  l’enfer,  Id  ou  nagudres 
on  adorait  le  fils  de  Dieu.  Les  enfants  de  l’etranger  m’accablent  d’out- 
rages,  et  rnontrant  la  croix  de  Jesus,  ils  me  disen  t : — ‘  Tu  as  mis  touts 
la  covjiance  dans  un  bois  vil ;  nous  verrons  si  ce  bois  te  sauvera  au 
jour  de  danger. ’  ” — Histoire  dcs  Croisades,  tom.  iii.  p.  394. 

A  a 


2?8 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


The  peace  established  between  Frederick  and  the  Sara-* 
cen  rulers  was  not  faithfully  observed  by  the  latter,  some 
of  whom  did  not  consider  themselves  as  bound  by  its  stipu¬ 
lations.  The  sufferings  endured  by  the  Christians  of  Pal¬ 
estine  accordingly  called  their  brethren  in  Europe  once 
more  to  arms.  A  council,  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
pope  at  Spoleto,  decreed  that  fresh  levies  should  be  sent 
into  Asia  so  soon  as  the  truce  with  Khamel,  the  sultan  of 
Damascus,  should  have  expired.  Many  of  the  English  no¬ 
bility,  inflamed  by  the  love  of  warlike  fame,  took  the  cross, 
and  prepared  to  follow  the  standard  of  the  Earl  of  Ches¬ 
ter,  and  of  Richard,  earl  of  Cornwall,  brother  to  King  Henry 
the  Third. 

In  this  pious  movement  the  lords  of  England  were  antici¬ 
pated  by  those  of  France,  who,  in  the  year  1239,  landed 
in  Syria,  and  prepared  to  measure  lances  with  the  Moslems. 
News  of  these  warlike  proceedings  having  reached  the 
nephew  of  Saladin,  he  forthwith  drove  the  Christians  out 
of  Jerusalem,  and  demolished  the  Tower  of  David, — a 
monument  which  till  that  time  had  been  regarded  as  sacred 

_  o 

by  both  parties.  The  combats  which  followed,  although 
fought  with  great  bravery  on  the  side  of  the  invaders,  ter¬ 
minated  generally  in  favour  of  the  Saracens  ;  and  the 
French  accordingly,  after  losing  a  great  number  of  their 
best  warriors,  were  glad  to  have  recourse  to  terms  of  peace. 
The  Templars  entered  into  treaty  with  the  Emir  of  Karac, 
while  the  Hospitallers,  actuated  by  jealousy  or  revenge, 
preferred  the  friendship  of  the  Sultan  of  Egypt. 

The  following  year  Richard,  the  earl  of  Cornwall,  arrived 
with  his  levy,  hoping  to  find  his  allies  in  possession  of  all 
the  towns  which  had  been  ceded  to  the  Emperor  of  Ger¬ 
many,  and  enjoying  security  in  the  exercise  of  their  reli¬ 
gious  rites.  His  surprise  was  therefore  very  great,  when 
he  discovered  that  the  principal  leaders  of  the  French  had 
already  fled  from  the  plains  of  Syria  ;  that  the  knights  of 
the  two  great  orders  had  sought  refuge  in  negotiation  ;  and, 
finally,  that  the  conquests  of  the  former  Crusaders  were 
once  more  limited  to  a  few  fortresses  and  a  strip  of  territory 
on  the  coast.  He  marched  in  the  first  instance  to  Jaffa, 
with  the  view  of  concentrating  the  scattered  forces  of  Eu¬ 
rope  ;  but  receiving  notice,  as  soon  as  he  arrived,  that  the 
Sultan  of  Egypt,  who  was  then  at  war  with  his  brother  of 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


279 


Damascus,  was  desirous  to  cultivate  friendly  relations,  he 
lent  a  ready  ear  to  the  terms  proposed.  The  Mussulman 
consented  to  relinquish  Jerusalem,  Beritus,  Nazareth, 
Bethlehem,  Mount  Tabor,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  Holy 
Land,  provided  the  English  earl  would  withdraw  his  troops 
and  preserve  a  strict  neutrality. 

The  conditions  being  ratified  by  the  Egyptian  sovereign, 
the  Earl  of  Cornwall  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  the  great 
object  of  the  Crusaders  once  more  accomplished.  Pales¬ 
tine  again  belonged  to  the  Christians.  The  Hospitallers 
opened  their  treasury  to  rebuild  the  walls  of  Jerusalem, 
while  the  patriarch  and  clergy  entered  the  holy  city  to  re¬ 
consecrate  the  churches.  For  two  years  the  gospel  was 
the  only  religion  administered  in  the  sacred  capital,  and  the 
faithful  had  begun  to  exult  in  the  permanent  subjection  of 
their  rivals,  when  a  new  enemy  arose,  more  formidable  to 
them  than  even  the  Saracens. 

The  victories  of  Zingis  Khan  had  displaced  several  na¬ 
tions  belonging  to  the  great  Tartar  family,  and  among 
others  the  Karismians,  who  continued  their  retreat  south¬ 
ward  till  they  reached  the  confines  of  Egypt.  The  sultan, 
who  perhaps  had  repented  the  liberality  of  his  terms  to  the 
soldiers  of  Richard,  advised  the  expatriated  barbarians  to 
take  possession  of  Palestine.  He  even  sent  one  of  his 
principal  officers  and  a  large  body  of  troops  to  serve  as 
their  guides  ;  upon  which,  Barbacan,  the  Karismian  gene¬ 
ral,  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  cavalry,  advanced  into 
the  Holy  Land.  The  garrison  of  Jerusalem,  being  quite 
inadequate  to  its  defence,  retired,  and  were  followed  by 
many  of  the  inhabitants.  The  invaders  entered  it  without 
opposition,  sparing  neither  life  nor  property,  and  respecting 
nothing,  whether  sacred  or  profane.  At  length  the  Tem¬ 
plars  and  Hospitallers,  forgetting  their  mutual  animosities, 
united  their  bands  to  rescue  the  country  from  the  grasp  of 
such  savages.  A  battle  took  place,  which,  after  continuing 
two  whole  days,  ended  in  the  total  defeat  of  the  Christians  ; 
the  Grand  Masters  of  St.  John  and  of  the  Temple  being 
among  the  slain.  Only  thirty-three  individuals  of  the  latter 
order,  and  sixteen  of  the  former,  with  three  Teutonic  cava¬ 
liers,  remained  alive,  and  succeeded  in  making  their  way  to 
Acre,  the  last  refuge  of  the  vanquished  knights.  The  Ka- 
rismians,  with  their  Egyptian  allies,  after  having  razed  th§ 


280 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


fortifications  of  Ascalon  and  Tiberias,  encamped  on  the 
seacoast,  laid  waste  the  surrounding  territory,  and  slew  or 
carried  into  bondage  every  Frank  who  fell  into  their  hands. 
Nor  was  it  till  the  year  124=7  that  the  Syrians  and  Mam- 
louks,  insulted  by  this  northern  horde,  attacked  them  near 
Damascus,  slew  Barbacan  their  chief,  and  compelled  the 
remainder  to  retrace  their  steps  to  the  borders  of  the  Cas¬ 
pian  Lake. 

The  intelligence  did  not  fail  to  reach  Europe  that  the 
members  of  the  Church  in  Palestine  had  been  put  to  death 
or  dispersed  by  the  exiles  of  Karism.  Pope  Innocent  the 
Fourth  suggested  the  expediency  of  another  Crusade,  and 
even  summoned  all  his  faithful  children  to  take  arms.  He 
wrote  to  Henry  the  Third,  king  of  England,  urging  him  to 
press  on  his  subjects  the  necessity  of  punishing  the  Karis- 
mians.  But  the  spirit  of  crusading  was  more  active  in 
France  than  in  any  other  country  of  the  West,  and  it  re¬ 
vived  in  all  the  vigour  of  its  chivalrous  piety  in  the  reign 
of  Louis  the  Ninth.  Agreeably  to  the  superstition  of  the 
times,  he  had  vowed,  while  afflicted  by  a  severe  illness,  that 
in  case  of  recovery  he  would  travel  to  the  Holy  Land. 
The  Cross  was  likewise  taken  by  the  three  royal  brothers, 
the  Counts  of  Artois,  Poictiers,  and  Anjou,  by  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  the  Countess  of  Flanders  and  her  two  sons, 
together  with  many  knights  of  high  degree. 

But  it  was  not  till  1249  that  the  soldiers  of  Louis  were 
mustered,  and  his  ships  prepared  for  sea;  the  former 
amounting  to  fifty  thousand,  ■while  his  vessels  of  all  descrip¬ 
tions  exceeded  eighteen  hundred.  They  set  sail  for  Egypt ; 
a  storm  separated  the  fleet  ;  but  the  royal  division,  in  which 
were  nearly  three  thousand  knights  and  their  men-at- 
arms,  arrived  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Damietta.  On  the 
second  day  the  king  ordered  the  disembarkation  ;  he  him¬ 
self  leaped  into  the  water  ;  his  warriors  followed  him  to 
the  shore  ;  upon  which  the  Saracens,  panic-struck  at  their 
boldness  and  determination,  made  but  a  slight  show  of 
defence,  and  fled  into  the  interior.  Although  Damietta  was 
better  prepared  for  a  siege  than  at  that  period  when  it  de¬ 
fied  the  arms  of  the  Crusaders  during  eighteen  months,  yet 
the  garrison  were  pleased  to  seek  safety  in  the  fleetness  of 
their  horses.  Louis  fixed  his  residence  in  the  city ;  a 
Christian  government  was  established  ;  and  the  clergy,  as 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM.  281 

they  were  wont  on  such  occasions,  proceeded  to  purify  the 
mosques. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  after  being  joined  by  a 
body  of  English  volunteers,  the  French  monarch  resolved 
to  march  to  Cairo  and  attack  the  sultan  in  the  heart  of  his 
kingdom.  But  the  floods  of  the  Nile,  and  the  intersection 
of  the  country  by  numerous  canals,  occasioned  a  second 
time  the  loss  of  a  brave  army.  Famine  and  disease,  too, 
aided  the  sword  of  the  enemy,  till  at  length  the  victors  of 
Damietta  were  compelled  to  sue  for  a  peace  which  they 
could  no  longer  obtain.  A  retreat  was  ordered  ;  but  those 
who  attempted  to  escape  by  the  river  were  taken  prisoners, 
and  the  fate  of  such  as  proceeded  by  land  was  equally  dis¬ 
astrous.  While  they  were  occupied  in  constructing  a  bridge 
over  a  canal,  the  Saracens  entered  the  camp  and  murdered 
the  sick.  The  valiant  king,  though  oppressed  with  the 
general  calamity  of  disease,  sustained  boldly  the  shock  of 
the  enemy,  throwing  himself  into  the  midst  of  them,  re¬ 
solved  to  perish  rather  than  desert  his  troops.  One  of  his 
attendants  succeeded  at  length  in  drawing  him  from  the 
presence  of  the  foe,  and  conducted  him  to  a  village,  where 
he  sunk  under  his  wounds  and  fatigue  into  a  state  of  utter 
insensibility.  In  this  miserable  condition  he  was  overtaken 
by  the  Moslems,  who  announced  to  him  that  he  was  their 
captive.  One  of  his  brothers,  the  gallant  Artois,  had 
already  fallen  in  battle,  but  the  two  others,  Anjou  and  Poic- 
tiers,  with  all  the  nobility,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

The  sultan  did  not  abuse  his  victory,  nor  seek  to  impose 
upon  Louis  terms  which  a  sovereign  could  not  grant  with¬ 
out  forfeiting  his  honour.  He  agreed  to  accept,  a  sum 
equivalent  to  five  hundred  thousand  livres  for  the  de¬ 
liverance  of  the  army,  and  the  town  of  Damietta  as  a  ran¬ 
som  for  the  royal  person.  Peace  was  to  continue  ten  years 
between  the  Mussulmans  and  the  Christians ;  while  the 
Franks  were  to  be  restored  to  those  privileges  in  the  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem  which  they  had  enjoyed  previous  to  the  recent 
invasion  of  the  French.  The  repose  which  succeeded  this 
treaty  was  interrupted  by  the  murder  of  the  sultan,  who 
fell  a  victim  to  the  jealousy  of  the  Mamlouks ;  but  after  a 
few  acts  of  hostility  too  insignificant  to  be  recorded,  the 
emirs  renewed,  with  a  few  modifications,  the  basis  of  the 
agreement  on  w7hich  the  peace  was  established.  Louis 

A  a  2 


282 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


himself  made  a  narrow  escape  from  the  sanguinary  intrigues 
of  those  military  slaves  who  had  imbrued  their  hands  in 
the  blood  of  their  own  master.  They  declared  that,  as  they 
had  committed  a  sin  by  destroying  their  sultan,  whom,  by 
their  law,  they  ought  to  have  guarded  as  the  apple  of  their 
eye,  their  religion  would  be  violated  if  they  suffered  a 
Christian  king  to  live.  But  the  other  chiefs,  more  honour¬ 
able  than  the  Mamlouks,  disdained  to  commit  a  crime  under 
any  such  pretext ;  and  the  French  monarch,  accordingly, 
was  allowed  to  accompany  the  poor  remains  of  his  army 
to  the  citadel  of  Acre. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  the  expedition  of  St.  Louis 
into  Egypt  resembles  in  many  respects  the  war  carried  on 
in  that  country  thirty  years  before.  In  both  cases  the 
Christian  armies  were  encamped  near  the  entrance  of  the 
Ashmoun  canal,  beyond  which  they  could  not  advance  ; 
and  the  surrender  of  Damietta  in  each  instance  was  the 
price  of  safety.  The  errors  of  the  Cardinal  Pelagius  seem 
not  to  have  been  recollected  by  the  French  king,  who,  in 
fact,  trod  in  his  steps  with  a  fatal  blindness,  and  ended  by 
paying  a  still  severer  penalty. 

A  gleam  of  hope  arose  in  the  minds  of  the  Crusaders 
from  finding  the  rulers  of  Egypt  and  of  Syria  engaged  in  a 
furious  war.  The  Mamlouks  even  condescended  to  solicit 
the  co-operation  of  Louis,  and  agreed  to  purchase  it  by 
remitting  one-half  of  the  ransom  which  still  remained  un¬ 
paid.  They  further  consented  to  deliver  up  Jerusalem 
itself,  and  also  the  youthful  captives  taken  on  the  banks  of 
the  Nile,  whom  they  had  compelled  to  embrace  the  Mussul¬ 
man  faith.  But  before  the  Franks  could  appear  in  the  field, 
the  interposition  of  the  calif  had  restored  peace  to  the 
contending  parties,  both  of  whom .  immediately  resumed 
their  wonted  dislike  to  the  European  invaders. 

The  infidels,  however,  at  this  period  did  not  pursue  their 
schemes  of  conquest  with  the  vigour  and  ability  which  dis¬ 
tinguished  the  movements  of  Noureddin,  and  more  espe¬ 
cially  of  Saladin,  his  renowned  successor.  They  might 
have  swept  the  feeble  and  exhausted  Christians  from  the 
shores  of  Palestine  ;  but  they  merely  ravaged  the  country 
round  Acre,  and  then  proceeded  to  Sidon,  in  the  strong 
castle  of  which  Louis  and  his  army  had  taken  refuge.  The 
blood  and  property  of  the  citizens  satisfied  the  barbarians, 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM.  283 

who  departed  without  trying  the  valour  of  the  soldiers  who 
occupied  the  garrison. 

The  death  of  Queen  Blanche,  the  mother  of  the  king, 
and  regent  during  his  absence,  afforded  him  a  good  apology 
for  leaving  the  country,  of  which  he  had  long  been  tired. 
The  patriarch  and  barons  of  the  Holy  Land  offered  him 
their  humble  thanks  for  the  honour  he  had  bestowed  upon 
their  cause,  and  for  the  benefits  which  he  had  conferred 
upon  themselves  individually.  Louis,  sensible  that  he  had 
gathered  no  laurels  in  Palestine,  and  that  the  interests  of 
the  church  were  even  in  a  more  hopeless  condition  than 
when  he  landed  at  Damietta,  listened  to  their  address  with 
mingled  emotions  of  shame  and  regret,  and  forthwith  pre¬ 
pared  himself  for  his  voyage  homewards.* 

Thus  terminated  that  expedition,  of  which,  says  a  French 
author,  the  commencement  filled  all  Christian  states  with 
joy,  and  which,  in  the  end,  plunged  all  the  West  into  mourn¬ 
ing.  The  king  arrived  at  Vincennes  on  the  5th  of  Sep¬ 
tember,  1254,  accompanied  by  a  crowd  collected  from  all 
quarters.  The  more  they  forgot  his  reverses,  the  more 
bitterly  he  called  to  mind  the  fate  of  his  brave  companions, 
whom  he  had  left  in  the  mud  of  Egypt  or  on  the  sands  of 
Palestine ;  and  the  melancholy  which  he  showed  in  his 
countenance  formed  a  striking  contrast  to  the  public  con¬ 
gratulation  on  the  return  of  a  beloved  prince.  His  first 
care,  says  the  historian,  was  to  go  to  St.  Denys,  to  pros¬ 
trate  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  apostles  of  France  ;  the  next 
day  he  made  his  entrance  into  the  capital,  preceded  by  the 
clergy,  the  nobility,  and  the  people.  He  still  wore  the 
cross  upon  his  shoulder  ;  the  sight  of  which,  by  recalling 
the  motives  of  his  long  absence,  inspired  the  fear  that  he, 
had  not  abandoned  the  enterprise  of  the  Crusade,  t 

*  “  On  se  rappelait  alors  les  vertus  dont  il  avait  donne  l’exemple,  et  sur  • 
tout  sa  bonte,  envers  les  habitants  de  la  Palestine,  qu’il  avait  traitfes 
comine  ses  propres  sujets.  Les  uns  exprimaient  leur  reconnaissance  par 
de  vives  acclamations,  les  autres  par  une  morne  silence  ;  tout  le  peuple 
qu’affligeait  son  depart,  le  proclamait  le  pire  des  Chrit-iens,  et  conjurait 
le  ciel  de  repandre  ses  benedictions  sur  la  famille  du  vertueux  monarque 
et  sur  la  royaume  de  France.  Louis  montrait  sur  son  visage,  qu’il  par- 
tageait  les  regrets  des  Chretiens  de  la  Terre-Saime ;  _il  leur  addressait 
des  paroles  consolantes,  leur  donnait  d’utiles  conseilsl  se  reprochait  de 
n’avoir  fait  assez  pour  leur  cause,  et  temoignait  le  vif  desir  qu’un  jour 
Dieu  le  jugeat  digue  d’achever  l’ouvrage  de  leur  delivrance.”— Michaud, 
Histoire  des  Croisades,  tom.  iv.  p.  299. 

t  Ibid.  p.  202. 


284 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


The  misfortunes  sustained  in  the  field  were  greatly 
increased  by  the  dissensions  which  prevailed  among  the 
military  orders  after  the  departure  of  Louis.  The  Tem¬ 
plars  and  Hospitallers,  especially,  never  forgot  their  jeal¬ 
ousies  except  when  engaged  in  battle  with  the  Mussulmans  ; 
for,  in  every  interval  of  peace,  they  mutually  gratified  their 
arrogance  and  contempt  by  wrangling  on  points  of  prece¬ 
dency  and  professional  reputation.  At  length  an  appeal 
to  arms  was  made,  with  the  view  of  determining  which  of 
these  kindred  associations  should  stand  highest  as  soldiers 
in  the  estimation  of  Europe.  The  Knights  of  St.  John 
gained  the  victory  ;  and  so  bloody  was  the  conflict  that  no 
quarter  was  granted,  and  hardly  a  single  Templar  escaped 
alive. 

But  these  unseemly  disputes  were  soon  drowned  amid 
the  shouts  of  a  more  formidable  warfare  waged  against 
Palestine  by  the  Mamlouk  sovereign  of  Egypt,  the  san¬ 
guinary  and  bigoted  Bibars.  His  troops  demolished  the 
churches  of  Nazareth  and  Mount  Tabor  ;  after  which  they 
advanced  to  the  gates  of  Acre,  inflicting  the  most  horrid 
cruelties  upon  the  unprotected  Christians.  Sephouri  and 
Azotus  were  taken  by  storm,  or  yielded  upon  terms.  At  the 
reduction  of  the  former,  it  was  agreed  that  the  knights  and 
garrison,  amounting  in  all  to  six  hundred  men,  should  be 
conducted  to  the  nearest  Christian  town.  But  no  sooner 
was  the  sultan  put  in  possession  of  the  fortress  than  he 
violated  the  conditions  of  surrender,  and  left  the  knights 
only  a  few  hours  to  determine  on  the  alternative  of  death 
or  conversion  to  Islamism.  The  prior  and  two  Franciscan 
monks  succeeded  by  their  exhortations  in  fixing  the  faith 
of  the  religious  cavaliers  ;  and  hence,  at  the  time  appointed 
for  the  declaration  of  their  choice,  they  unanimously  avowed 
their  resolution  to  die  rather  than  incur  the  dishonour  of 
apostacy.  The  decree  for  the  slaughter  of  the  Templars 
was  pronounced  and  executed  ;  while  the  three  preachers 
of  martyrdom,  as  if  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  their 
countrymen,  were  flayed  alive. 

A  large  Christian  state  had  been  formed  at  Antioch,  in 
alliance  with  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.  Bibars,  after 
reducing  Jaffa  and  the  castle  of  Beaufort,  marched  his  fierce 
soldiers  against  the  capital  of  Syria,'  and  soon  added  it  to 
the  number  of  his  conquests.  Forty  thousand  believers  in 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


285 


Christ  were  on  this  occasion  put  to  the  sword,  and  not 
fewer  than  one  hundred  thousand  were  led  into  captivity. 
The  barbarian,  indeed,  avowed  the  fell  purpose  of  exter¬ 
minating  the  whole  Christian  community  in  the  East,  ex¬ 
tending  the  terror  of  death  or  the  ascendency  of  the  Koran 
from  the  Nile  to  the  mountains  of  Armenia.  But  his  pro¬ 
gress  was  stopped  by  the.  intelligence  which  reached  him  in 
Palestine,  that  the  King  of  Cyprus  had  resolved  to  inter¬ 
pose  his  arms  in  behalf  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  was  about 
to  make  a  descent  on  the  coast  at  the  head  of  a  large  force 
collected  from  various  nations.  Bibars  returned  to  Cairo, 
fitted  out  a  fleet  for  the  conquest  of  that  island,  and  intended, 
during  the  absence  of  its  sovereign,  to  annex  it  perma¬ 
nently  to  the  dominions  of  Egypt.  But  his  ships  were 
lost  in  a  tempest ;  his  military  character  suffered  from  the 
failure  of  the  enterprise  ;  his  power  was  weakened  ;  and 
he  ceased  to  be  any  longer  the  scourge  and  dread  of  the 
Christian  world. 

Before  the  atrocities  of  this  Mamlouk  chief  were  made 
known  in  Europe,  the  people  of  the  West  had  made  prepara¬ 
tions  for  the  ninth  Crusade.  Louis  was  not  able  to  conceal 
from  himself,  that  his  first  expedition  to  the  Holy  Land  had 
brought  more  shame  on  France  than  benefit  to  the  Christian 
cause.  Nay,  he  was  not  without  fear,  that  his  personal 
reputation  was  in  some  degree  tarnished  by  the  fatal  result 
of  his  attack  on  Egypt,  so  unwisely  and  rashly  conducted. 
The  Pope  favoured  his  inclination  for  a  new  attempt ;  and 
accordingly,  in  a  general  meeting  of  the  higher  clergy  and 
nobles,  held  at  Paris  in  1268,  the  king  exhorted  his  people 
to  avenge  the  wrongs  which  Christ  had  so  long  suffered  at 
the  hands  of  the  unbelieving  Moslems. 

In  England  a  similar  spirit  had  long  prevailed  among  the 
priesthood  and  the  great  body  of  the  commons  ;  but  Henry 
the  Third,  taught  by  experience  that  the  late  Crusades  had 
only  weakened  the  friends  and  strengthened  the  enemies  of 
Christianity,  refused  to  countenance  this  popular  folly  at  the 
time  when  Louis  first  assumed  the  cross.  On  the  present 
occasion,  however,  he  permitted  his  son  Edward,  with  the 
Earls  of  Warwick  and  Pembroke,  to  receive  the  holy  ensign, 
and  to  join  the  sovereign  of  France  in  his  renewed  attempt 
to  plant  the  emblem  of  his  faith  on  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 

It  was  not  till  the  spring  of  1270  that  St.  Louis  spread  his 


286 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


sails  the  second  time  for  the  Holv  Land.  The  feelings  of 
religious  and  military  ardour  which  animated  the  heart  of 
this  pious  monarch  were  diffused  through  the  sixty  thou¬ 
sand  soldiers  who  followed  his  banners.  He  could  count, 
too,  among  his  leaders,  the  descendants  of  those  gallant 
chiefs,  the  lords  of  Brittany,  of  Flanders,  and  Champagne, 
who  in  former  generations  had  distinguished  themselves  in 
fighting  the  battles  of  the  church.  But  notwithstanding 
such  promising  appearances,  this  proud  armament  took  the 
sea  under  an  evil  omen.  The  fleet  was  driven  into  Sar¬ 
dinia  ;  and  there  a  great  and  unfortunate  change  was  made 
in  the  plan  of  operations.  Instead  of  proceeding  to  Pales¬ 
tine,  it  was  resolved  that  the  troops  should  be  landed  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Tunis,  to  assist  the  Christians  in  extend¬ 
ing  their  faith  in  opposition  to  the  disciples  of  the  Koran. 
Success,  indeed,  crowmed  the  first  efforts  of  the  invaders  ; 
Carthage  fell  into  their  hands ;  and  more  splendid  con¬ 
quests  seemed  to  invite  their  progress  into  the  heart  of  the 
Mohammedan  nations  of  Northern  Africa.  But  a  pestilen¬ 
tial  disease,  the  scourge  of  those  burning  shores,  soon 
spread  its  ravages  among  the  ranks  of  the  Christians. 
Louis,  the  great  stay  of  the  Crusaders,  was  stricken  with 
the  fatal  sickness,  and  died,  leaving  his  army,  which  had 
accomplished  nothing,  to  prosecute  the  war,  or  to  return 
with  sullied  standards  into  their  native  country.* 

Prince  Edward,  who  condemned  the  vacillating  conduct 
of  his  allies,  had  already  passed  from  Africa  into  Sicily, 
where  he  spent  the  following  winter.  In  the  early  part  of 
the  year  1271,  he  set  sail  for  Acre,  where  he  landed  at  the 

*It  was  during  the  siege  of  Tunis  that  Louis  died.  “  Our  Edward 
would  needs  have  had  the  town  beaten  down,  and  all  put  to  the  sword  ; 
thinking  the  foulest  quarter  too  fair  for  them.  Their  goods  (because 
got  by  robbery)  he  would  have  sacrificed  as  an  anathema  to  God,  and 
burnt  to  ashes ;  his  own  share  he  execrated,  and  caused  it  to  be  burnt, 
forbidding  the  English  to  save  any  thing  of  it because  that  coals  stolen 
out  of  that  fire  would  sooner  burn  their  houses  than  warm  their  hands. 
It  troubled  not  the  consciences  of  other  princes  to  enrich  themselves 
herewith,  but  they  glutted  themselves  with  the  stolen  honie  which  they 
found  in  this  hive  of  drones:  and,  which  was  worse,  now  their  bellies 
were  full,  they  would  goe  to  bed,  return  home,  and  goe  no  farther.  Yea, 
the  young  King  of  France,  called  Philip  the  Bold,  was  fearful  to  prosecute 
his  journey  to  Palestine  ;  whereas  Prince  Edward  struck  his  breast,  and 
swore,  that  though  all  his  friends  forsook  him,  yet  he  would  enter  Ptole- 
mais  though  but  only  with  Fowin  his  horsekeeper.  By  which  speech  he 
incensed  the  English  to  go  on  with  him.”— Fuller's  Holy  Warre,  p.  217. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


287 


head  of  only  one  thousand  men  ;  but  so  high  was  his  repu¬ 
tation  among  the  Latins  of  Palestine,  that  he  soon  found 
his  army  increased  sevenfold,  and  eager  to  be  employed  in 
the  redemption  of  the  sacred  territory.  He  led  them,  in  the 
first  place,  against  Nazareth,  which  did  not  long  resist  the 
vigour  of  his  attack ;  and,  almost  immediately  afterward, 
he  surprised  a  large  Turkish  force,  whom  he  cut  in  pieces. 
The  Moslems  imagined  that  another  Cceur  de  Lion  had  been 
sent  from  England  to  scourge  them  into  discipline,  or  to 
shake  the  foundation  of  their  power  in  Syria.  Edward  was 
brave  and  skilful  as  a  warrior,  and  owed  his  success  not  less 
to  his  able  dispositions  than  to  hi's  personal  courage.  But 
he  was  cruel  and  lavish  of  human  blood.  The  barbarities 
which  disgraced  the  triumphs  of  the  first  Crusade  were  re¬ 
peated  on  a  smaller  scale  at  Nazareth,  where  the  prince 
put  the  whole  garrison  to  death,  and  subjected  the  inhabit¬ 
ants  to  unnecessary  suffering. 

The  resentment  of  the  governor  of  Jaffa  is  said  to  have 
pointed  the  dagger  which  was  aimed  at  the  heart  of  the 
English  prince  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin.  The  wretch,  as 
the  bearer  of  letters,  was  admitted  into  the  chamber  of  Ed¬ 
ward,  who,  not  suspecting  treachery,  received  several  severe 
wounds  before  he  could  dash  the  assailant  to  the  floor  and 
despatch  him  with  his  sword.  But  as  the  weapon  used  by 
the  Saracen  had  been  steeped  in  poison,  the  life  of  his  in¬ 
tended  victim  was  for  some  hours  in  imminent  danger. 
The  chivalrous  fiction  of  that  romantic  age  has  ascribed  his 
recovery  to  the  kind  offices  of  one  of  that  sex  whose  generous 
affections  are  seldom  chilled  by  the  calculations  of  selfish¬ 
ness.  His  wife,  Eleanora,  is  said  to  have  sucked  the  poison 
from  his  wound,  at  the  hazard  of  instant  death  to  herself, — 
a  story  which,  having  received  the  sanction  of  the  learned 
Camden,  has  not  unfrequently  been  held  as  an  indisputable 
fact.  The  more  authentic  edition  of  the  narrative  attributes 
the  restoration  of  Edward’s  health  to  the  usual  means  em¬ 
ployed  by  surgical  skill,  aided  by  the  resources  of  a  strong 
mind  and  a  vigorous  constitution.* 

*  “  It  is  storied  how  Eleanor,  his  lady,  sucked  all  the  poison  out  of  his 
wounds,  without  doing  any  harm  to  herself.  So  sovereign  a  remedy  is 
a  woman’s  tongue  anointed  with  the  virtue  of  loving  affection  !  Pity  it 
is  that  so  pretty  a  story  should  not  be  true  (with  all  the  miracles  in  love’s 
legends),  and  sure  he  shall  get  himself  no  credit  who  undertakclli  to 


288 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


It  soon  became  manifest  that  the  valour  and  ability  of 
Edward,  unsupported  by  an  adequate  force,  could  make  no 
lasting  impression  upon  the  Moslem  power  in  Syria.  Ac¬ 
cordingly,  after  having  spent  fourteen  months  in  Acre,  he 
listened  to  proposals  for  peace  made  by  the  Sultan  of  Egypt, 
who,  being  engaged  in  war  with  the  Saracens  whom  he  had 
displaced,  was  eager  to  terminate  hostilities  with  the  Eng¬ 
lish.  A  suspension  of  arms,  to  continue  ten  years,  was 
formally  signed  by  the  two  chiefs  ;  whereupon  the  Mam- 
louk  withdrew  his  troops  from  Palestine,  and  Edward  em¬ 
barked  for  his  native  country. 

The  loss  and  discomfiture  which  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years  had  concluded  every  attempt  to  regain  the  Holy  Land 
did  not  yet  extirpate  the  hope  of  final  success  in  the  hearts 
of  the  clergy  and  sovereigns  of  the  West.  Gregory  the 
Ninth,  who  himself  had  served  in  the  Christian  armies  of 
Syria,  exerted  all  the  means  in  his  power  to  equip  another 
expedition  against  the  enemies  of  the  faith.  The  small 
republics  of  Italy,  which  found  a  ready  employment  for 
their  shipping  in  transporting  troops  to  Palestine,  were  the 
first  to  embrace  the  cause  recommended  by  their  spiritual 
ruler.  The  King  of  France  seemed  to  favour  the  enter¬ 
prise,  and  advanced  money  on  the  mortgage  of  certain 
estates  within  his  dominions  belonging  to  the  Templars  ; 
Charles  of  Anjou  followed  the  example  of  his  royal  relation ; 
and  Michael  Paleologus,  the  Emperor  of  the  East,  an¬ 
nounced  his  willingness  to  take  arms  against  the  ambitious 
sultan,  who  already  threatened  the  independence  of  Greece. 
A  council  held  at  Lyons  in  1274  sanctioned  the  obligations 
of  a  crusade,  and  imposed  upon  the  church  and  other  estates 
such  taxes  as  appeared  sufficient  to  carry  it  to  a  successful 
issue.  But  tlie  death  of  the  pope  dissolved  the  coalition,  and 
all  preparations  for  renewing  the  war  were  immediately  laid 
aside, — never  to  be  resumed. 

confute  a  passage  so  sounding  to  the  honour  of  the  sex.  Yet  can  it  not 
stand  with  what  others  have  written.” — Fuller's  Holy  Warre ,  p.  220. 

“  The  admirall  of  Joppa,  hearing  of  his  recoverie,  utterly  disavowed 
that  he  had  any  hand  in  the  treacherie  ;  as  none  will  willingly  father  un¬ 
succeeding  villainy.  True  it  is,  he  was  truly  sorrowfull ;  whether  be¬ 
cause  Edward  was  so  bad,  or  no  worse  wounded,  He  knoweth  that 
knoweth  hearts.  Some  wholly  acquit  him  herein,  and  conceive  this  mis¬ 
chief  proceeded  from  Simon,  Earl  of  Montfort’s  hatred  to  our  prince.” — 
Holy  Warre,  p.  220. 


From  the  fall  of  Jerusalem. 


289 


The  Franks  in  Palestine,  now  left  to  their  own  resources, 
ought  to  have  cultivated  peace,  and  more  especially  to  have 
abstained  from  positive  and  direct  aggression.  Their  con¬ 
duct,  however,  was  not  marked  by  such  abstinence  or  wis¬ 
dom.  On  the  contrary,  by  attacking  certain  Mohammedan 
merchants,  they  provoked  the  anger  of  the  sultan,  who  swore 
by  God  and  the  Prophet  that  he  would  avenge  the  wrong. 
A  war  fatal  to  the  Christian  interests  was  the  immediate 
consequence.  Their  fortresses  were  rapidly  demolished ; 
and  at  length,  in  the  year  1289,  the  city  of  Tripoli,  the  prin¬ 
cipal  appanage  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  was  taken,  its 
houses  were  consumed  by  fire,  its  works  dismantled,  and  its 
inhabitants  massacred,  or  sold  into  slavery. 

Acre  now  remained  the  sole  possession  of  the  Latins,  in 
the  country  where  their  sovereignty  had  been  acknowledged 
during  the  lapse  of  nearly  two  centuries.  A  short  peace 
granted  to  Henry  the  Second  of  Cyprus,  the  nominal  king 
of  the  Holy  Land,  postponed  its  fate,  and  the  utter  abolition 
of  Christian  authority  in  Syria,  a  few  years  longer.  Within 
its  walls  were  crowded  the  wretched  remains  of  those  prin¬ 
cipalities  which  had  been  won  by  the  valour  of  European 
soldiers.  A  reinforcement  of  unprincipled  Italians  only 
added  to  the  disorder  which  already  prevailed  in  the  town, 
and  increased  the  number  of  offences  by  which  they  were 
daily  accumulating  upon  their  heads  the  vengeance  of  ihe 
fanatical  Mamlouks,  who  longed  for  an  opportunity  to 
attack  them. 

At  length,  in  the  month  of  April,  1291,  a  fore®  which  has 
been  estimated  at  more  than  200,000  men,  issued  from 
Egypt,  and  encamped  on  the  Plain  of  Acre.  Most  of  the 
inhabitants  made  their  escape  by  sea  from  the  horrors  of 
the  impending  siege  ;  the  defence  of  the  place  being  in¬ 
trusted  to  about.  12,000  good  soldiers,  belonging  chiefly  to 
the  several  orders  of  religious  knighthood.  The  command 
was  offered  to  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Templars,  who, 
being  prevailed  upon  to  accept,  discharged  its  duties  with 
firmness  and  military  skill.  But  the  Mamlouks  were 
not  inferior  in  valour,  and  their  numbers  were  irresistible. 
Prodigies  of  bravery  were  displayed  on  both  sides :  the 
assailants  threw  themselves,  with  desperate  resolution,  into 
the  breach,  from  whence  they  were  repeatedly  driven  back 
at  the  point  of  the  sword,  or  hurled  headlong  into  the  ditch, 

B'b 


290 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


But  the  sultan  was  prodigal  of  blood,  and  had  vowed  to 
humble  the  Nazarenes  who  dared  to  dispute  his  authority. 
The  walls,  accordingly,  after  having  been  several  times  lost 
and  won,  were  at  length  finally  occupied  by  the  Tartars 
and  Mamlouks,  who  obeyed  the  sovereign  of  Egypt,  and 
the  crescent  was  at  that  moment  elevated  to  a  place  which 
it  has  continued  to  occupy  during  the  greater  part  of  five 
centuries.  Struck  with  terror,  the  few  small  towns,  which 
till  this  period  had  been  allotted  to  the  Christians  surren¬ 
dered  at  the  first  summons,  and  saw  their  inhabitants 
doomed  either  to  death  or  to  a  hopeless  captivity.  In  one 
word,  the  Holy  Land,  which  since  the  days  of  Godfrey  had 
cost  to  Christendom  so  much  anxiety,  blood,  and  treasure, 
was  now  lost ;  the  sacred  walls  of  Jerusalem  were  aban¬ 
doned  to  infidels  ;  and  henceforth  the  disciple  of  Christ  was 
doomed  to  purchase  permission  to  visit  the  interesting 
scenes  consecrated  by  the  events  recorded  in  the  gospel. 

The  titular  crown  of  Palestine  was  worn  for  the  last 
time  by  Hugh  the  Great,  the  descendant  of  Hugh,  king  of 
Cyprus,  and  Alice,  who  was  the  daughter  of  Mary  and 
John  de  Brienne.  At  a  later  period,  this  empty  honour  was 
claimed  by  the  house  of  Sicily,  in  right  of  Charles,  count  of 
Anjou  and  brother  of  Louis  IX.,  who  was  thought  to  unite 
in  his  own  person  the  issue  of  the  King  of  Cyprus  and  of 
the  Princess  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Frederick,  sovereign  of 
Antioch.  The  knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  since  de¬ 
nominated  knights  of  Rhodes  and  Malta,  and  the  Teutonic 
knights,  the  conquerors  of  the  north  of  Europe  and  founders 
of  the  kingdom  of  Prussia,  are  now  the  only  remains  of 
those  Crusaders  who  struck  terror  into  Africa  and  Asia,  and 
seized  the  thrones  of  Jerusalem,  Cyprus,  and  Constantinople. 

Although  no  expedition  from  the  Christian  states  reached 
the  Holy  Land  after  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the 
fire  which  had  so  long  warmed  the  hearts  of  the  Crusaders 
was  not  entirely  extinguished  in  several  parts  of  Europe. 
Edward  the  First  of  England,  for  example,  still  cherished 
the  hope  of  opening  the  gates  of  Jerusalem,  or  of  leaving 
his  bones  in  the  sacred  dust  of  Palestine.  A  similar  feeling 
animated  the  monarch  of  France  ;  while  the  pope,  who  de¬ 
rived  manifold  advantages  from  the  prosecution  of  such 
wars,  summoned  councils,  issued  pastoral  letters,  and  em¬ 
ployed  preachers,  as  in  the  days  that  were  past.  But 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


291 


dissensions  at  home  during  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  the  general  conviction  of  hopelessness  which 
had  seized  the  public  mind  respecting  all  armaments  against 
the  Moslems,  occasioned  the  failure  of  every  attempt  to 
unite  once  more  the  powers  of  Christendom  in  the  common 
cause. 

In  the  following  century,  the  ascendency  of  the  Turks, 
not  only  in  the  East,  but  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube  and 
the  northern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  compelled  the 
people  of  Europe  to  act  on  the  defensive.  The  fall  of  the 
Grecian  empire,  too,  rendered  the  intercourse  with  Syria  at 
once  more  difficult  and  dangerous.  Egypt  in  like  manner 
was  shut  against  the  Christians,  being  subjected  to  the 
same  yoke  which  pressed  so  heavily  on  the  western  parts 
of  Asia.  Hence,  during  more  thaji  two  centuries  a  cloud 
hung  over  the  affairs  of  Palestine,  which  we  in  vain  attempt 
to  penetrate.  Suffice  it  to  remark,  that  it  remained  subject 
to  the  Mamlouk  sultans  of  Egypt  till  the  year  1382,  when 
they  were  dispossessed  by  a  body  of  Circassians,  who  in¬ 
vaded  and  overran  the  country.  Upon  the  expulsion  of 
these  barbarians,  it  acknowledged  again  the  government  of 
Cairo,  under  which  it  continued  until  the  period  of  the 
more  formidable  irruption  of  the  Mogul  Tartars,  led  by  the 
celebrated  Tamerlane.  At  his  death  the  Holy  Land  was 
once  more  annexed  to  Egypt  as  a  province;  but  in  1516, 
Selim  the  Ninth,  emperor  of  the  Othman  Turks,  carried 
his  victorious  arms  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Libyan 
Desert,  involving  in  one  general  conquest  all  the  interven¬ 
ing  states.  More  than  three  hundred  years  have  that  peo¬ 
ple  exercised  a  dominion  over  the  land  of  Judea,  varied 
only  by  intervals  of  rebellion  on  the  part  of  governors  who 
wished  to  assert  their  independence,  or  by  wars  among  the 
different  pashas,  who,  in  defiance  of  the  supreme  authority, 
have  from  time  to  time  quarrelled  about  its  spoils. 

From  the  period  at  which  the  Crusaders  were  expelled 
from  Syria  down  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  we  are 
chiefly  indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Land  to  the 
pilgrims  whom  religious  motives  induced  to  brave  all  the 
perils  and  extortions  to  which  Franks  were  exposed  under 
the  Turkish  government.  The  faith  of  the  Christians  sur¬ 
vived  their  arms  at  Jerusalem,  and  was  found  within  the 
sacred  walls  long  after  every  European  soldier  had  disap- 


292 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


peared.  The  Jacobite,  Armenian,  and  Abyssinian  believers 
were  allowed  to  cling  to  those  memorials  of  redemption 
which  have  at  all  times  given  so  great  an  interest  to  the 
localities  of  Palestine  ;  and  occasionally  a  member  of  the 
Latin  Church  had  the  good  fortune  to  enter  the  gates  of 
the  city  in  disguise,  and  was  permitted  to  offer  up  his 
prayers  at  the  side  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  In  1432,  when 
La  Broquiere  undertook  his  pilgrimage  into  the  East,  there 
were  only  two  French  monks  in  Jerusalem,  who  were  held 
in  the  most  cruel  thraldom. 

The  increasing  intercourse  between  the  Turks  at  Con- 
stantinople  and  the  governments  of  Europe  gradually  pro¬ 
duced  a  more  tolerant  spirit  among  the  former,  and  paved 
the  way  for  a  lasting  accommodation  in  favour  of  the  Chris¬ 
tians  in  Palestine.  We. .find,  accordingly,  that  in  the  year 
1507,  when  Baumgarten  travelled  in  Syria,  there  was  at 
Jerusalem  a  monastery  of  Franciscans,  who  possessed  in¬ 
fluence  sufficient  to  secure  his  personal  safety,  and  even  to 
provide  for  his  comfort  under  their  own  roof.  At  a  some¬ 
what  later  period,  the  Moslem  rulers  began  to  consider  the 
reception  of  pilgrims  as  a  regular  source  of  revenue  ;  selling 
their  protection  at  a  high  pri’ce,  and  even  creating  dangers 
in  order  to  render  that  protection  indispensable.  The 
Christians,  meantime,  rose  by  degrees  from  the  state  of 
depression  and  contumely  into  which  they  were  sunk  by 
the  conquerors  of  the  Grecian  empire.  They  were  allowed 
to  nominate  patriarchs  for  the  due  administration  of  eccle¬ 
siastical  affairs,  and  to  practise  all  the  rites  of  their  religion, 
provided  they  did  not  insult  the  established  faith, — a  condi¬ 
tion  of  things  which,  with  such  changes  as  have  been  occa¬ 
sioned  by  foreign  war  or  the  temper  of  individual  governors, 
has  been  perpetuated  to  the  present  day. 

As  the  civil  history  of  Palestine  for  three  centuries  is 
nothing  more  than  a  relation  of  the  broils,  the  insurrections, 
the  massacres,  and  changes  of  dynasty  which  have  period¬ 
ically  shaken  the  Turkish  empire  in  Europe  as  well  as  in 
Asia,  we  willingly  pass  over  it,  as  v/e  thereby  only  refrain 
from  a  mere  recapitulation  of  names  and  dates  which  could 
not  have  the  slightest  interest  for  anv  class  of  readers.  At 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  however,  its  affairs 
assumed  a  new?  importance.  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  whose 
views  of  dominion  were  limited  only  by  the  bounds  of  the 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


293 


civilized  world,  imagined  that,  by  the  conquest  of  Egypt 
and  Syria,  he  should  open  for  himself  a  path  into  the 
remoter  provinces  of  the  Asiatic  continent,  and  perhaps 
establish  his  power  on  either  bank  of  the  Ganges. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  1799  that  the  French  general, 
who  had  been  informed  of  certain  preparations  against  him 
in  the  pashalic  of  Acre,  resolved  to  cross  the  desert  which 
divides  Egypt  from  Palestine  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand 
chosen  men.  El  Arish  soon  fell  into  his  hands,  the  garrison 
of  which  were  permitted  to  retire  on  condition  that  they 
should  not  serve  again  during  the  war.  Gaza  likewise 
yielded  without  much  opposition  to  the  overwhelming  force 
by  which  it  was  attacked.  Jaffa  set  the  first  example  of  a 
vigorous  resistance  ;  the  slaughter  was  tremendous  ;  and 
Bonaparte,  to  intimidate  other  towns  from  showing  a  simi¬ 
lar  spirit,  gave  it  up  to  plunder  and  the  other  excesses  of 
an  enraged  soldiery.  A  more  melancholy  scene  followed, — 
the  massacre  of  nearly  four  thousand  prisoners  who  had 
laid  down  their  arms.  Napoleon  alleged,  that  these  were 
the  very  individuals  who  had  given  their  parole  at  El  Arish, 
and  had  violated  their  faith  by  appearing  against  him  in 
the  fortress  which  had  just  fallen.  On  this  pretext  he  com¬ 
manded  them  all  to  be  put  to  death,  and  thereby  brought  a 
stain  upon  his  reputation  which  no  casuistry  on  the  part 
of  his  admirers,  and  no  considerations  of  expediency,  mili¬ 
tary  or  political,  will  ever  succeed  in  removing.* 

*  The  motives  for  the  massacre  of  Jaffa  are  given  by  Bonrrienne  in  so 
impartial  a  manner,  that  we  are  inclined  to  believe  he  has  given  a  true 
transcript  of  his  master’s  tnind.  “  Bonaparte  sent  his  aids-de-camp, 
Beauharnais  and  Crosier,  to  appease  as  far  as  possible  the  fury  of  the 
soldiery,  to  examine  what  passed,  and  to  report.  They  learned  that  a 
numerous  detachment  of  the  garrison  had  retired  into  a  strong  position, 
where  large  buildings  surrounded  a  courtyard.  This  court  they  entered, 
displaying  the  scarfs  which  marked  their  rank.  The  Albanians  and 
Arnauts,  composing  nearly  the  entire  of  these  refugees,  cried  out  from 
the  windows  that  they  wished  to  surrender,  on  condition  their  lives  were 
spared ;  if  not,  threatening  to  fire  upon  the  officers,  and  to  defend  them¬ 
selves  to  the  last  extremity.  The  young  men  conceived  they  ought,  and 
had  power,  to  accede  to  the  demand,  in  opposition  to  the  sentence  of 
death  pronounced  against  the  garrison  of  every  place  taken  by  assault. 

I  was  walking  with  General  Bonaparte  before  his  tent  when  these  pris¬ 
oners,  in  two  columns,  amounting  to  about  four  thousand  men,  were 
marched  into  the  camp.  When  he  beheld  the  mass  of  men  arrive,  and 
before  seeing  the  aids-de-camp,  he  turned  to  me  with  an  expression  of 
consternation,  ‘  What  would  they  have  me  to  do  with  these  ?  Have  I 
provisions  to  feed  them;  ships  to  transport  them  either  to  Egypt  or 

B  b  2 


294 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


Acre,  so  frequently  mentioned  in  the  History  of  the 
Crusades,  was  again  doomed  to  receive  a  fatal  celebrity 
from  a  most  sanguinary  and  protracted  siege.  Achmet 
Djezzar,  the  pasha  of  that  division  of  Palestine  which 
stretches  from  the  borders  of  Egypt  to  the  Gulf  of  Sidon, 
had  thrown  himself  into  this  fortress  with  a  considerable 
army,  determined  to  defend  it  to  the  last  extremity.  After 
failing  in  an  attempt  to  bribe  the  Mussulman  chief,  Bona¬ 
parte  made  preparations  for  the  attack,  with  his  usual  skill 
and  activity  ;  resolving  to  carry  the  place  by  assault  before 
the  Turkish  government  could  send  certain  supplies  of  food 
and  ammunition,  which  he  knew  were  expected  by  the  be¬ 
sieged.  But  his  design  was  frustrated  by  the  presence  of  a 
British  squadron  under  Sir  Sidney  Smith,  who,  in  the  first 
instance,  captured  a  convoy  of  guns  and  stores  forwarded 
from  Egypt,  and  then  employed  them  against  him,  by  erect¬ 
ing  batteries  on  shore.  Notwithstanding  these  inauspicious 
circumstances,  Napoleon  opened  his  trenches  on  the  18th 
of  March,  in  the  firm  conviction  that  the  Turkish  garrison 
could  not  long  resist  the  fury  of  his  onset  and  the  skill  of 
his  engineers.  “  On  that  little  town,”  said  he,  to  one  of 
his  generals,  as  they  were  standing  together  on  an  eminence 
which  still  bears  the  name  of  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  “  on 
that  little  town  depends  the  fate  of  the  East.  Behold  the 
key  of  Constantinople  or  of  India  !” 

At  the  end  of  ten  days  a  breach  was  effected,  by  which 
the  French  made  their  first  attempt  to  reduce  the  towers  of 


France  ?  How  the  devil  could  they  play  me  this  trick  !’  The  two  aids- 
de-camp,  on  their  arrival  and  explanations,  received  the  strongest  repri¬ 
mands.  To  their  defence,  namely,  that  they  were  alone  amid  numerous 
enemies,  and  that  he  had  recommended  to  them  to  appease  the  slaughter, 
he  replied,  in  the  sternest  tone,  ‘Yes,  without  doubt,  the  slaughter  of 
women,  children,  old  men,  the  peaceable  inhabitants  but  not  of  armed 
soldiers  :  you  ought  to  have  braved  death,  and  not  brought  these  to  me. 
What  would  you  have  me  do  with  them?’  Hut  the  evil  was  done,  Four 
thousand  men  were  there — their  fate  must  be  determined.  The  prisoners 
were  made  to  sit  down,  huddled  together  before  the  tents,  their  hands 
being  bound  behind  them.  A  gloomy  rage  was  depicted  in  every  iinea? 
rnent.  \  council  was  held  in  the  general’s  tent,”  &c. 

On  the  third  day  an  order  was  issued  that  the  prisoners  should  be 
shot, — an  order  which  was  literally  executed  on  four  thousand  men. 
“  The  atrocious  crime,”  says  M.  Bourrienne,  “  makes  me  yet  shudder 
when  1  u,:.nk  of  it,  as  when  it  passed  before  me.  All  that  can  be  ima¬ 
gined  of  fearful  on  this  day  of  blood  would  fall  short  of  the  reality 
Memoirs,  vol.  i.  p,  156. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


295 


Acre.  Their  assault  was  conducted  with  so  much  firmness 
and  spirit,  that  for  a  moment  the  garrison  was  overpowered, 
and  the  town  seemed  lost.  The  pasha,  renowned  for  his 
personal  courage,  threw  himself  into  the  thickest  body  of 
the  combatants,  and  at  length,  by  strength  of  hand  and  the 
most  heroic  example,  rallied  his  troops  and  drove  the  enemy 
from  the  walls.  The  loss  of  the  French  was  great,  and  the 
disappointment  of  their  leader  extreme.  Napoleon  was 
deeply  mortified  when  he  saw  his  finest  regiments  pursued 
to  their  lines  by  English  sailors  and  undisciplined  Turks, 
who  even  proceeded  to  destroy  their  intrenchments. 

Bourrienne  relates,  that  during  the  assault  of  the  8th  of 
May  more  than  two  hundred  men  penetrated  into  the  city. 
Already  the  shout  of  victory  was  raised  ;  but  the  breach, 
taken  in  flank  by  the  Turks,  could  not  be  entered  with  suf¬ 
ficient  promptitude,  and  the  party  was  left  without  support. 
The  streets  were  barricaded  ;  the  very  women  were  running 
about  throwing  dust  into  the  air,  and  exciting  the  inhabit- 
ants  by  cries  and  howling ;  all  contributed  to  render  un¬ 
availing  this  short  occupation  by  a  handful  of  men,  who, 
finding  themselves  alone,  regained  the  breach  by  a  retro¬ 
grade  movement ;  but  not  before  many  had  fallen. 

The  want  of  proper  means  for  forming  a  siege,  and  per¬ 
haps  the  contempt  which  he  entertained  for  barbarians,  oc¬ 
casioned  a  great  deficiency  in  the  works  raised  before  Acre. 
Bonaparte  was  not  ignorant  of  the  disadvantages  under 
which  his  men  laboured  from  the  cause  now  assigned  ;  and 
it  was  principally  for  this  reason  that  he  trusted  more  to 
the  bayonet  than  to  the  mortar  or  cannon.  He  repeated 
his  assaults  day  after  day,  till  the  ditch  was  filled  with  dead 
and  wounded  soldiers.  His  grenadiers  at  length  felt  greater 
horror  at  walking  over  the  bodies  of  their  comrades  than  at 
encountering  the  tremendous  discharges  of  large  and  small 
shot  to  which  the  latter  had  fallen  victims. 

On  the  21st  of  May,  after  sixty  days  of  ineffectual  labour 
under  a  burning  sun,  Napoleon  ordered  a  last  assault  on 
the  obstinate  garrison  of  Ptolemais,  which  had  barred  his 
path  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  most  splendid  conquests. 
This  attempt,  was  not  less  fruitless  than  those  which  had 
preceded  it,  and  was  attended  with  the  loss  of  many  brave 
warriors.  A  fleet  was  at  hand  to  reinforce  Djezzar  with 
jneu  and  arms  j  tlie  French,  on  the  contrary,  were  no  risking 


296 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


under  the  plague,  which  had  already  found  its  way  into 
their  ranks,  and  were,  besides,  constantly  threatened  by 
swarms  of  Arabs  and  Mamlouks,  who  ha*d  assembled  in 
the  neighbouring  mountains.  His  failure  in  this  effort,  ac¬ 
cordingly,  dictated  the  necessity  of  a  speedy  retre.at  towards 
Egypt,  where  his  affairs  continued  to  enjoy  some  degree  of 
prosperity,  and  in  the  magazines  of  which  he  might  still 
find  the  means  of  restoring  the  health  and  vigour  of  his 
troops. 

The  siege  of  Acre,  says  the  biographer  of  Bonaparte, 
cost  nearly  three  thousand  men  in  killed,  and  of  such  as 
died  of  the  plague  and  their  wounds.  Had  there  been  less 
precipitation  in  the  attack,  and  had  the  advances  been  con¬ 
ducted  according  to  the  rules  of  art,  the  town,  says  he, 
could  not  have  held  out  three  days  ;  and  one  assault  such 
as  that  of  the  8th  of  May  would  have  sufficed.  But  he 
admits  that  it  would  have  been  wiser  in  their  situation, 
destitute  as  they  were  of  heavy  artillery  and  provisions, 
while  the  place  was  plentifully  supplied  and  in  active  com¬ 
munication  with  the  English  and  Ottoman  fleets,  not  to 
have  undertaken  the  siege  at  all.  In  the  bulletins,  he  adds, 
always  so  veracious,  the  loss  of  the  French  is  estimated  at 
five  hundred  killed  and  a  thousand  wounded  ;  while  that  of 
the  enemy  is  augmented  to  fifteen  thousand.  These  docu¬ 
ments  are  doubtless  curious  pieces  for  history, — certainly 
not  because  they  are  true.  Bonaparte,  however,  attached 
the  greatest  importance  to  these  relations,  which  were 
always  drawn  up  or  corrected  by  himself.* 

The  reader  may  not  be  displeased  to  consider  the  motives 
which  induced  Napoleon  to  persevere  so  long  in  the  siege 
of  Acre.  “  I  see  that  this  paltry  town  has  cost  me  many 
men,  and  occupies  much  time  ;  but  things  have  gone  too 
far  not  to  risk  a  last  effort.  If  we  succeed,  it  is  to  be  hoped 
we  shall  find  in  that  place  the  treasures  of  the  pasha,  and 
arms  for  three  hundred  thousand  men.  I  will  raise  and 
arm  the  whole  of  Syria,  which  is  already  greatly  exaspe¬ 
rated  by  the  cruelty  of  Djezzar,  for  whose  fall  you  have 
seen  the  people  supplicate  Heaven  at  every  assault.  I  ad¬ 
vance  upon  Damascus  and  Aleppo  ;  I  recruit  my  army  by 
marching  into  every  country  where  discontent  prevails ;  I 


*  Memoirs  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  vol.  i.  p.  1C3. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM.  297 

announce  to  the  people  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  of  the 
tyrannical  government  of  the  pashas ;  I  arrive  at  Constan¬ 
tinople  with  armed  masses  ;  I  overturn  the  dominion  of  the 
Mussulman  ;  I  found  in  the  East  anew  and  mighty  empire, 
which  shall  fix  my  position  with  posterity  ;  and.  perhaps  I 
return  to  Paris  by  Adrianople  or  Vienna,  having  annihilated 
the  house  of  Austria.”* 

Whatever  accuracy  there  may  be  in  these  reminiscences, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  Napoleon  frequently  remarked,  in 
reference  to  Acre,  “  The  fate  of  the  East  is  in  that  place.” 
Nor  was  this  observation  made  at  random ;  for  had  the 
French  subdued  Djezzar,  and  buried  his  army  in  the  ruins 
of  the  fortress,  the  whole  of  Palestine  and  Syria  would 
have  submitted  to  their  dominion.  He  expected,  besides,  a 
cordial  reception  from  the  Druses,  those  warlike  and  semi- 
barbarous  tribes  who  inhabit  the  valleys  of  Libanus,  and 
who,  like  all  the  other  subjects  of  the  Ottoman  government, 
had  felt  the  pressure  of  the  pasha’s  tyranny.  His  eyes 
were  likewise  turned  towards  the  Jews,  who,  in  every  com¬ 
motion  which  affects  Syria,  are  accustomed  to  look  for  the 
indications  of  that  happy  change  destined,  in  the  eye  of  their 
faith,  to  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel  in  the  latter  days. 
It  was  not,  indeed,  till  a  somewhat  later  period  that  he 
openly  extended  his  protection  to  the  descendants  of  Abra¬ 
ham  ;  but  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  notion  had  occurred 
to  him  during  his  Eastern  campaigns  of  employing  them  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  an  independent  sovereignty  in 
Palestine,  devoted  to  his  ulterior  views  in  the  countries  be¬ 
yond  the  Euphrates. 

During  the  siege  of  Acre,  the  several  detachments  of  the 
French  army  stationed  in  Galilee  were  attacked  by  a  pow¬ 
erful  Mussulman  force,  which  had  assembled  in  the  adjoin¬ 
ing  mountains.  Junot,  who  was  induced  to  risk  an  engage¬ 
ment  near  Nazareth,  would  have  been  cut  in  pieces  by  the 
Mamlouk  cavalry,  had  not  Bonaparte  hastened  to  his  assist¬ 
ance.  We  have  already  alluded  to  the  masterly  conduct  of 
Kleber,  who,  at  the  head  of  a  few  hundred  men,  kept  the 
field  a  whole  day  against  an  overwhelming  mass  of  horsemen 
that  attacked  his  party  near  Mount  Tabor.  On  this  occa¬ 
sion,  too,  the  speedy  aid  of  Napoleon  secured  a  victory,  and 
scattered  the  enemy’s  troops  over  the  face  of  the  desert. 

*  Memoirs  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  vol.  i.  p.  165. 


298 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


But  he  found,  upon  his  return  to  the  trenches,  that  the  same 
men  whose  columns  dissipated  like  smoke  before  his  bat¬ 
talions  on  the  plain  were  extremely  formidable  behind  an 
armed  wall,  and  that  all  the  skill  of  his  engineers  and  the 
bravery  of  his  veterans  wrere  of  no  avail  when  opposed  by 
the  savage  courage  of  Turks  directed  by  European  officers 
and  supported  by  English  seamen. 

The  sufferings  which  the  French  endured  in  their  retreat 
across  the  desert  were  very  great,  and  afforded  constant 
exercise  for  the  self-possession  and  equanimity  of  their 
leader.  “A  fearful  journey,”  says  one  of  their  number, 
“  was  yet  before  us.  Some  of  the  wounded  were  carried 
in  litters,  and  the  rest  on  camels  and  mules.  A  devouring 
thirst,  the  total  want  of  water,  an  excessive  heat,  a  fatiguing 
march  among  scorching  sand-hills,  demoralized  the  men  ; 
a  most  cruel  selfishness,  the  most  unfeeling  indifference, 
took  place  of  every  generous  or  humane  sentiment.  I  have 
seen  thrown  from  the  litters  officers  with  amputated  limbs, 
whose  conveyance  had  been  ordered,  and  who  had  them¬ 
selves  given  money  as  a  recompense  for  the  fatigue.  I  have 
beheld  abandoned  among  the  wheatfields  soldiers  who  had 
lost  their  legs  or  arms,  wounded  men,  and  patients  supposed 
to  be  affected  with  the  plague.  Our  march  was  lighted  up 
by  torches  kindled  for  the  purpose  of  setting  on  fire  towns, 
hamlets,  and  the  rich  crops  with  which  the  earth  was  cov¬ 
ered.  The  whole  country  was  in  flames.  It  seemed  as  if 
we  found  a  solace  in  this  extent  of  mischief  for  our  own 
reverses  and  sufferings.  We  were  surrounded  only  by  the 
dying,  by  plunderers,  by  incendiaries.  Wretched  beings  at 
the  point  of  death,  thrown  by  the  wayside,  continued  to 
call  with  feeble  voice,  ‘  I  have  not  the  plague,  I  am  but 
wmunded  and,  to  convince  those  that  passed,  they  might 
be  seen  tearing  open  their  real  wounds,  or  inflicting  new 
ones.  Nobody  believed  them.  It  was  the  interest  of  all  not 
to  believe.  Comrades  would  say,  ‘  He  is  done  for  now  ;  his 
march  is  over then  pass  on,  look  to  themselves,  and  feel 
satisfied.  The  sun,  in  all  his  splendour  under  that  beautiful 
sky,  was  obscured  by  the  smoke  of  continual  conflagration. 
We  had  the  sea  on  our  right ;  on  our  left  and  behind  us  lay 
the  desert  which  we  had  made  ;  before  were  the  sufferings 
and  privations  that  awaited  us.”* 


*  Memoirs  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  vol.  i.  p.  168. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


299 


Since  the  departure  of  the  French  no  event  has  occurred 
to  give  any  interest  to  the  history  of  Palestine.  The  Mus¬ 
sulman  instantly  resumed  his  power,  which  for  a  time  he 
appeared  determined  to  exercise  with  a  strong  arm  and  with 
little  forbearance  towards  the  Franks,  from  the  terror  of 
whose  might  he  had  just  escaped.  But  the  ascendency  of 
Europe,  as  a  great  assemblage  of  Christian  states,  checks 
the  intolerance  of  the  Turk,  and  imposes  upon  him  the  obli¬ 
gations  of  a  more  liberal  policy.  Hence  we  may  confidently 
assert,  that  although  the  members  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches  in  Syria  are  severely  taxed,  they  are  not  perse¬ 
cuted.  They  are  compelled  to  pay  heavily  for  the  privilege 
of  exercising  the  rites  of  their  worship,  and  of  enjoying  that 
freedom  of  conscience  which  is  the  natural  inheritance  of 
every  human  being ;  but  their  property  is  held  sacred,  and 
their  personal  security  is  not  endangered,  provided  they 
have  the  prudence  to  rest  satisfied  with  a  simple  connivance 
or  bare  permission  in  things  relating  to  their  faith. 

The  actual  state  of  the  Holy  Land  may  be  known  with 
sufficient  accuracy  from  the  topographical  description  which 
we  have  given  in  a  former  chapter.  With  regard,  again,  to 
the  civil  government  of  the  country,  it  has  been  remarked 
that  the  pashas  are  so  frequently  changed,  or  so  often  at 
war  with  each  other,  that  the  jurisdiction  of  the  magistrates 
in  cities  is  so  undefined,  and  the  hereditary  or  assumed 
rights  of  the  sheiks  of  particular  districts  are  so  various, 
that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  discover  any  settled  rule  by 
which  the  administration  is  conducted.  The  whole  Turkish 
empire,  indeed,  has  the  appearance  of  being  so  precariously 
balanced,  that  the  slightest  movement  within  or  from 
without  seems  likely  to  overturn  it.  Everywhere  is  abso¬ 
lute  power  seen  stretched  beyond  the  limits  of  all  apparent 
control,  but  finding,  nevertheless,  a  counteracting  principle 
in  that  extreme  degree  of  acuteness  to  which  the  instinct  of 
self-preservation  is  sharpened  by  the  constant  apprehension 
of  injury.  Hence  springs  that  conflict  between  force  and 
fraud,  not  always  visible,  but  always  operating,  which  char¬ 
acterizes  society  in  all  despotic  countries. 

In  the  minute  subdivision  of  power,  which  in  all  cases 
partakes  of  the  absolute  nature  of  the  supreme  government, 
the  traveller  is  often  reminded  of  patriarchal  times,  when 
there  were  found  judges,  and  even  kings,  exercising  a  sepa- 


300 


THE  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


rate  dominion  at  the  distance  of  a  short  journey  from  one 
another.  As  an  instance  of  this,  we  may  mention,  that  on 
the  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Sannour,  by  way  of  Nablous, 
there  are  no  fewer  than  three  governors  of  cities,  all  of  whom 
claim  the  honours  of  independent  sovereigns  ;  for,  although 
they  acknowledge  a  nominal  superiority  in  the  Pasha  of 
Damascus,  they  exclude  his  jurisdiction  in  all  cases  where 
he  does  not  enforce  his  authority  at  the  head  of  his  troops. 
The  same  affectation  of  independence  descends  to  the  sheiks 
of  villages,  who,  aware  of  the  precarious  tenure  by  which 
their  masters  remain  in  office,  are  disposed  to  treat  their 
orders  with  contempt.  Like  them,  too,  they  turn  to  their 
personal  advantage  the  power  of  imposition  and  extortion 
which  belongs  to  every  one  who  is  clothed  with  official  rank 
in  Syria.  They  sell  justice  and  protection  ;  and  in  this 
market,  as  in  all  others,  he  who  offers  the  best  price  is  cer¬ 
tain  to  obtain  the  largest  share  of  the  commodity. * 

This  chapter  would  not  be  complete  were  we  to  omit  all 
allusion  to  the  Jews,  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Palestine. 
Their  number,  according  to  a  statement  lately  published  in 
Germany,  amounts  to  between  three  and  four  millions,  scat¬ 
tered  over  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  but  still  maintaining 
the  same  laws  which  their  ancestors  received  from  their  in¬ 
spired  legislator  more  than  three  thousand  years  ago.  In 
Europe  there  are  nearly  two  millions,  enjoying  different 
privileges  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  several  governments  ; 
in  Asia,  the  estimate  exceeds  seven  hundred  thousand  ;  in 
Africa,  more  than  half  a  million  ;  and  in  America,  about  ten 
thousand.  It  is  supposed,  however,  on  good  grounds,  that 
the  Jewish  population  on  both  sides  of  Mount  Taurus  is 
considerably  greater  than  is  here  given,  and  that  their  gross 
number  does  not  fall  much  short  of  five  millions. f 

In  Palestine  of  late  years  they  have  greatly  increased.  It 
is  said  that  not  fewer  than  ten  thousand  inhabit  Saphet  and 
Jerusalem,  and  that  in  their  worship  they  still  sing  those 
pathetic  hymns  which  their  manifold  tribulations  have  in¬ 
spired  ;  bewailing,  amid  the  ruins  of  their  ancient  capital, 
the  fallen  city  and  the  desolate  tribes.  In  Persia,  one  of 
them  addressed  a  Christian  missionary  in  these  affeeting 

*  See  Jowett’s  Christian  Researches  in  Syria  and  the  Holy  Land, 
p.  315. 

t  Weimar,  Geographical  Ephemerides :  and  History  of  the  Jews,  vol. 

Ui.  p.  332. 


FROM  THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


301 


Words  : — “  I  have  travelled  far  ;  the  Jews  are  everywhere 
princes  in  comparison  with  those  in  the  land  of  Iran. 
Heavy  is  our  captivity,  heavy  is  our  burden,  heavy  is  our 
slavery  ;  anxiously  we  wait  for  redemption.” 

History,  says  an  eloquent  writer,  is  the  record  of  the  past; 
it  presumes  not  to  raise  the  mysterious  veil  which  the  Al¬ 
mighty  has  spread  over  the  future.  The  destinies  of  this 
wonderful  people,  as  of  all  mankind,  are  in  the  hands  of  the 
all-wise  Ruler  of  the  universe  ;  his  decrees  will  certainly  be 
accomplished  ;  his  truth,  his  goodness,  and  his  wisdom  will 
he  clearly  vindicated.  This,  however,  we  may  venture  to 
assert,  that  true  religion  will  advance  with  the  dissemination 
of  sound  and  useful  knowledge.  The  more  enlightened  the 
Jew  becomes,  the  more  incredible  will  it  appear  to  him  that 
the  gracious  Father  of  the  whole  human  race  intended  an 
exclusive  faith,  a  creed  confined  to  one  family,  to  be  perma¬ 
nent  ;  and  the  more  evident  also  will  it  appear  to  him,  that 
a  religion  which  embraces  within  the  sphere  of  its  benevo¬ 
lence  all  the  kindreds  and  languages  of  the  earth  is  alone 
adapted  to  an  improved  and  civilized  age.* 

We  presume  not  to  expound  the  signs  of  the  times,  nor 
to  see  farther  than  we  are  necessarily  led  by  the  course  of 
events  ;  but  it  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  the  aspect 
of  that  grandest  of  all  moral  phenomena  which  is  suspended 
upon  the  history  and  actual  condition  of  the  sons  of  Jacob. 
At  this  moment  they  are  nearly  as  numerous  as  when  David 
swayed  the  sceptre  of  the  Twelve  Tribes  ;  their  expecta¬ 
tions  are  the  same,  their  longings  are  the  same  ;  and  on 
whatever  part  of  the  earth’s  surface  they  have  their  abode, 
their  eyes  and  their  faith  are  all  pointed  in  the  same  direc¬ 
tion, — to  the  land  of  their  fathers  and  the  holy  city  where 
they  worshipped.  Though  rejected  by  God  and  persecuted 
by  man,  they  have  not  once,  during  eighteen  hundred  long 
years,  ceased  to  repose  confidence  in  the  promises  made  by 
Jehovah  to  the  founders  of  their  nation  ;  and  although  the 
heart  has  often  been  sick  and  the  spirit  faint,  they  have 
never  relinquished  the  hope  of  that  bright  reversion  in  the 
latter  days  which  is  once  more  to  establish  the  Lord’s  house 
on  the  top  of  the  mountains,  and  to  make  Jerusalem  the 
glory  of  the  whole  world. 


*  History  of  the  Jews,  vol.  iii.  p.  338. 

Cc 


302  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Natural  History  of  Palestine. 

Travellers  too  much  neglect  Natural  History — Maundrell,  Hasselquist, 
Clarke — Geology — Syrian  Chain — Libanus — Calcareous  Rocks — 
Granite — Trap  — Volcanic  Remains  — Chalk — Marine  Exuviae — Pre¬ 
cious  Stones — Meteorology — Climate  of  Palestine — Winds — Thun¬ 
der — Clouds-  Waterspouts— Ignis  Fatuus— Zoology—  Scripture  Ani¬ 
mals — The  Hart — The  Roebuck— Fallow-deer — Wild  Goat — Pygarg 
- — Wild  Ox — Chamois — Unicom — Wild  Ass — Wild  Goats  of  the  Rock 
— Saphan,  or  Coney— Mouse — Porcupine— Jerboa — Mole — Bat — Birds 
— Eagle — Ossifrage — Ospray — Vulture  — Kite— Raven— Owl — Night- 
hawk — Cuckoo— Hawk — Little  Owl— Cormorant — Great  Owl — Swans 
— Pelican— Gier  Eagle— Stork — Heron — Lapwing — Hoopoe — Amphi¬ 
bia  and  Reptiles — Serpents  known  to  the  Hebrews — Ephe — Che- 
phir  —  Acshub  — Pethen  — Tzeboa  — Tzimmaon  — Tzepho  — Kippos  — 
Shephiphon— Shachal— Saraph,the  Flying  Serpent— Cockatrice’  Eggs 
— The  Scorpion — Sea  motisiers,  or  Seals — Fruits  and  Plants — Ve¬ 
getable  Productions  of  Palestine — The  Fig-tree— Palm — Olive— Cedars 
of  Libanus — Wild  Grapes — Balsam  of  Aaron — Thom  of  Christ. 

Every  one  who  writes  on  the  Holy  Land  has  occasion 
to  regret  that  travellers  in  general  have  paid  so  little  atten¬ 
tion  to  its  geological  structure  and  natural  productions. 
Maundrell,  it  is  true,  was  not  entirely  destitute  of  physical 
science  ;  but  the  few  remarks  which  he  makes  are  extremely 
vague  and  unconnected,  and,  not  being  expressed  in  the 
language  of  system,  throw  very  little  light  on  the  researches 
of  the  natural  philosopher  or  the  geologist.  Hasselquist 
had  more  professional  learning,  and  has  accordingly  con¬ 
tributed  more  than  any  of  his  predecessors  to  our  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  Palestine,  viewed  in  its  relations  to  the  animal, 
the  vegetable,  and  the  mineral  kingdoms.  Still  the  reader 
of  his  Voyages  and  Travels  in  the  Levant  cannot  fail  to 
perceive,  that  some  of  the  branches  of  natural  knowledge, 
which  are  now  cultivated  with  the  greatest  care,  were  in 
his  day  very  little  improved  ;  and  more  especially,  that  they 
were  deficient  in  accuracy  of  description  and  distinctness  of 
arrangement.  Dr.  Clarke’s  observations  are  perhaps  more 
scientific  than  those  of  the  Swedish  naturalist  just  named, 
and  particularly  in  the  departments  of  mineralogy  and  geology 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE.  303 


to  which  he  had  devoted  a  large  share  of  his  attention.  But 
even  in  his  works  we  look  in  vain  for  a  satisfactory  treatise 
on  the  mountain-rocks  of  Palestine,  on  the  geognostic  form¬ 
ation  of  that  interesting  part  of  Western  Asia,  or  on  the 
fossil  treasures  which  its  strata  are  understood  to  envelop. 
We  are  therefore  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  collecting  from 
various  authors,  belonging  to  different  countries  and  succes¬ 
sive  ages,  the  scattered  notices  which  appear  in  their  works, 
and  of  arranging  them  according  to  a  plan  most  likely  to 
suit  the  comprehension  of  the  common  reader. 


SECTION  I. - GEOLOGY. 

At  first  view  it  would  appear  that  the  ridges  of  Pales¬ 
tine  are  all  a  ramification  of  Mount  Taurus.  But  the 
proper  Syrian  chain  begins  on  the  south  of  Antioch,  at  the 
huge  peak  of  Casius,  which  shoots  up  to  the  heavens  its 
tapering  summit,  covered  with  thick  forests.  The  same 
chain,  under  various  names,  follows  the  direction  of  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  at  no  greater  distance, 
generally  speaking,  than  twenty-four  miles  from  its  waters. 
Mount  Libanus  forms  its  most  elevated  summit.  At  length 
it  is  divided  into  two  branches,  of  which  the  one  looks  west¬ 
ward  to  the  sea,  the  other,  which  bounds  the  Plain  of 
Damascus,  verges  in  the  direction  of  the  desert  and  the 
banks  of  the  Euphrates.  Hermon,  whose  lofty  top  con¬ 
denses  the  moisture  of  the  atmosphere,  and  gives  rise  to  the 
dews  so  much  celebrated  in  the  Sacred  Writings,  stands 
between  Heliopolis  and  the  capital  of  Syria.  The  latter 
ridge  received  from  the  Greeks  the  denomination  of  Anti- 
Libanus, — a  name  unknown  among  the  natives,  and  which, 
being  employed  somewhat  arbitrarily  by  historians  and  topo¬ 
graphers,  has  occasioned  considerable  obscurity  in  their 
writings. 

The  hills  in  this  part  of  Syria  are  composed  of  a  calca¬ 
reous  rock  having  a  whitish  colour,  is  extremely  hard,  and 
which  rings  in  the  ear  when  smartly  struck  with  a  hammer. 
The  same  description  applies  to  the  masses  that  surround 
Jerusalem,  which  on  the  one  hand  stretch  to  the  River 
Jordan,  and  on  the  other  extend  to  the  Plain  of  Acre  and 


304  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


Jaffa.  Like  all  limestone  strata,  they  present  a  great  num¬ 
ber  of  caverns,  to  which,  as  places  of  retreat,  frequent 
allusion  is  made  in  the  books  of  Samuel  and  of  the  Kings. 
There  is  one  near  Damascus,  capable  of  containing  four 
thousand  men  ;  and  it  must  have  been  in  a  similar  recess 
that  David  and  his  men  encountered  the  ill-fated  Saul  when 
pursued  by  him  on  the  hills  of  the  wild  goats. 

The  mountains  that  skirt  the  Valley  of  the  Dead  Sea 
present  granite  and  those  other  rocks  which,  according  to 
the  system  of  Werner,  characterize  the  oldest  or  primitive 
formation.  Mount  Sinai  is  a  member  of  the  same  group, 
and  exhibits  mineral  qualities  of  a  similar  nature,  extend¬ 
ing  to  a  certain  distance  on  both  sides  of  the  Arabian  Gulf. 
It  is  probable  that  this  region,  at  a  remote  epoch,  was  the 
theatre  of  immense  volcanoes,  the  effects  of  which  may  still 
be  traced  along  the  banks  of  the  Lower  Jordan,  and  more 
especially  in  the  lake  itself.  The  warm  baths  at  Tabaria 
show  that  the  same  cause  still  exists,  although  much  re¬ 
stricted  in  its  operation, — an  inference  which  is  amply  con¬ 
firmed  by  the  lavas,  the  bitumen,  and  pumice  which  continue 
to  be  thrown  ashore  by  the  waves  of  Asphaltites. 

Dr.  Clarke  remarks,  that  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cana 
there  are  several  basaltic  appearances.  The  extremities 
of  columns,  prismatically  formed,  penetrated  the  surface  of 
the  soil,  so  as  to  render  the  path  very  rough  and  unpleasant. 
These  marks  of  regular  or  of  irregular  crystallization 
generally  denote,  according  to  his  opinion,  the  vicinity  of 
water  lying  beneath  their  level.  The  traveller,  having  passed 
over  a  series  of  successive  plains,  resembling  in  their  grada¬ 
tion  the  order  of  a  staircase,  observes,  as  he  descends  to  the 
inferior  stratum  upon  which  the  water  rests,  that  where 
rocks  are  disclosed  the  symptoms  of  crystallization  have 
taken  place,  and  then  the  prismatic  configuration  is  com¬ 
monly  denoted  basaltic  Such  an  appearance,  therefore, 
in  the  approach  to  the  Lake  of  Tiberias  is  only  a  parallel 
to  similar  phenomena  exhibited  by  rocks  near  the  Lakes  of 
Locarno  and  Bolsenna  in  Italy,  by  those  of  the  Wenner 
Lake  in  Sweden,  by  the  bed  of  the  Rhine  near  Cologne  in 
Germany,  by  the  Valley  of  Ronca  in  the  territory  of  Verona, 
by  the  Pont  de  Bridon  in  the  state  of  Venice,  and  by  nume¬ 
rous  other  examples  in  the  same  country.  A  corresponding 
effect  is  produced  on  a  small  scale  on  the  southern  declivity 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE.  305 


of  Arthur  Seat,  near  Edinburgh,  where  the  hill  overhangs 
the  Lake  of  Duddingstone  ;  and  numerous  other  instances 
are  known  to  occur  in  the  islands  which  lie  between  the 
coast  of  Ireland  and  Norway,  as  well  as  Spain,  Portugal, 
Arabia,  and  India. 

When  these  crystals  have  obtained  a  certain  regularity 
of  structure,  the  form  is  often  hexagonal,  or  six-sided,  resem¬ 
bling  particular  kinds  of  spar,  and  the  emerald.  Patrin,  dur¬ 
ing  his  travels  in  the  deserts  of  Oriental  Tartary,  discovered 
when  breaking  the  Asiatic  emerald,  if  fresh  taken  from  the 
matrix,  not  only  the  same  alternate  concave  and  convex 
fractures  which  sometimes  characterize  the  horizontal  fis¬ 
sures  of  basaltic  pillars,  but  also  the  concentric  layers  which 
denote  concretionary  formation.  It  is  hardly  possible  to 
have  a  more  striking  proof  of  coincidence,  resulting  from 
similarity  of  structure,  in  two  substances  otherwise  re¬ 
markably  distinguished  from  each  other.  In  this  state 
science  remains  at  present,  concerning  an  appearance  in 
nature  which  exhibits  nothing  more  than  the  common  pro¬ 
cess  of  crystallization  upon  a  larger  scale  than  has  usually 
excited  attention.  Suffice  it  to  remark,  that  such  a  phe¬ 
nomenon  is  very  frequent  in  the  vicinity  of  very  ancient 
lakes,  in  the  bed  of  all  considerable  rivers,  or  by  the  borders 
of  the  ocean. * 

In  a  country  where  there  are  so  many  traces  of  volcanic 
action,  the  rocks  of  the  lower  levels  cannot  fail  to  bear 
marks  of  their  origin.  Hasselquist  relates,  that  the  Hill 
of  Tiberias,  out  of  which  issues  the  fountain  whence  the 
baths  are  supplied,  consists  of  a  black  and  brittle  sulphur¬ 
ous  stone,  which  is  only  to  be  found  in  large  masses  in  that 
neighbourhood,  though  it  is  commonly  met  with  in  rolled 
specimens  on  the  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea,  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  valley.  The  sediment  deposited  by  the  water 
is  also  black,  as  thick  as  paste,  smells  strongly  of  sulphur, 
and  is  covered  with  two  skins  or  cuticles,  of  which  the  lower 
is  of  a  fine  dark-green,  and  the  uppermost  of  a  light  rusty 
colour.  At  the  mouth  of  the  outlet,  where  the  stream 
formed  little  cascades  over  the  stones,  the  first  cuticle  alone 
was  found,  and  so  much  resembled  a  conferva,  that  one 
might  have  taken  it  for  a  vegetable  production  ;  but  nearer 

*  See  Clarke’s  Travels,  vol.  iv.  p.  191. 

C  c  2 


306  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


the  river,  where  the  current  became  stagnant,  both  skins 
were  visible,  the  yellow  on  the  surface,  and  under  it  the 
green.* 

There  are  observed,  in  the  same  hollow,  small  portions 
of  quartz  incrusted  with  an  impure  salt,  and  nodules  of  clay 
extremely  compact.  Near  the  edge  of  the  valley  there  lie 
scattered  on  the  sand  considerable  portions  of  flinty  slate  ; 
and  amid  the  common  clay,  which  forms  the  basis  of  the 
soil,  are  perpendicular  layers  of  a  lamellated  brown  argil, 
assuming,  as  it  were,  the  slaty  structure.  Dr.  Clarke 
noticed  among  the  pebbles  near  the  Lake  of  Tiberias  pieces 
of  a  porous  rock  resembling  the  substance  called  toadstone 
in  England  ;  its  cavities  were  filled  with  zeolite.  Native 
gold  was  likewise  found  there,  but  the  quantity  was  so 
small  as  not  to  draw  from  the  travellers  a  suitable  degree 
of  attention. 

The  Yale  of  the  Asphaltites  is  further  remarkable  for  a 
species  of  limestone  called  the  fetid,  the  smell  of  which,  as 
its  name  imports,  is  extremely  offensive.  It  is  still  manu¬ 
factured  in  the  East  into  amulets,  and  worn  as  a  specific 
against  the  plague  ;  and  that  a  similar  superstition  existed 
in  regard  to  this  stone  in  very  early  ages  is  rendered  mani¬ 
fest  by  the  circumstance,  that  charms  made  of  the  same  sub¬ 
stance  were  found  in  the  subterranean  chambers  under  the 
pyramids  of  Sakhara  in  Upper  Egypt.  The  cause  of  the 
fetid  effluvia  emitted  from  this  rock,  when  partially  decom¬ 
posed  by  means  of  friction,  is  now  known  to  be  connected 
with  the  presence  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen.  All  bitu¬ 
minous  limestone,  however,  does  not  possess  this  property. 
It  is  not  uncommon  in  the  calcareous  beds  called  in  England 
black  marble,  but  it  is  by  no  means  their  characteristic. 
The  fragments  obtained  in  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  have 
this  savour  in  a  high  degree  ;  and  it  is  admitted  that  the 
oriental  limestone  is  more  highly  impregnated  with  hydro- 
sulphuret  than  any  hitherto  found  in  Europe. t 

According  to  Dr.  Shaw,  the  upper  strata  of  rocks  on  the 
hills  along  the  coast  are  composed  of  a  soft  chalky  substance, 
including  a  great  variety  of  corals,  shells,  and  other  marine 
exuviae.  Upon  the  Castravan  mountains,  near  Beirout,  there 

*  Hasselquist’s  Voyages  and  Travels,  p.  284 

t  Clarko's  Travels,  voi.  iv.  p.  223  and  307. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE.  307 


is  a  singular  bed,  consisting  likewise  of  a  whitish  stone,  but 
of  the  slate-kind,  which  unfolds  in  every  flake  of  it  a  great 
number  and  variety  of  fishes.  These,  for  the  most  part,  lie 
exceedingly  flat  and  compressed,  like  the  fossil  specimens 
of  fern  ;  yet  are,  at  the  same  time,  so  well  preserved,  that 
the  smallest  lineaments  and  fibres  of  their  fins,  scales,  and 
other  specific  properties  of  structure  are  easily  distinguished. 
Among  these  were  some  individuals  of  the  squilla  tribe, 
which,  though  one  of  the  tenderest  of  the  crustaceous 
family,  had  not  suffered  the  least  injury  from  pressure  or 
friction.  The  heights  of  Carmel,  too,  present  similar  phe¬ 
nomena.  In  the  chalky  beds  which  surround  its  summit 
are  gathered  numerous  hollow  flints,  lined  in  the  inside  with 
a  variety  of  sparry  matter,  and  having  some  resemblance  to 
petrified  fruit.  These  are  commonly  bestowed  upon  pil¬ 
grims,  not  only  as  curiosities,  but  as  antidotes  against  seve¬ 
ral  distempers.  Those  which  bear  a  likeness  to  the  olive, 
usually  denominated  “  lapides  Judaici,”  are  looked  upon, 
when  dissolved  in  the  juice  of  lemons,  as  an  approved  medi¬ 
cine  for  curing  the  stone  and  gravel, — a  specific,  we  may 
presume,  which,  after  the  fashion  of  many  others,  operates 
upon  the  body  through  the  power  of  the  imagination.* 

The  miserable^condition  of  ignorance  and  neglect  into 
which  every  thing  connected  with  industry  has  fallen  under 
the  Turkish  government,  prevents  us  from  obtaining  any 
information  in  regard  to  the  mineral  stores  of  that  country, 
“whose  stones  are  iron,  and  out  of  whose  hills  thou  mayst 
dig  brass.”  Volney  indeed  relates,  that  ores  of  the  former 
metal  abound  in  the  mountains  of  Kesraoun  and  of  the 
Druses,  in  other  words,  in  the  extensive  range  of  which  Li- 
banus  is  the  principal  member.  Every  summer  the  inhab¬ 
itants  work  those  mines  which  are  simply  ochreous.  There 
is  a  vague  report  in  the  district,  that  there  was  anciently  a 
vein  of  copper  near  Aleppo,  but  it  must  have  been  long  since 
abandoned.  It  was  also  mentioned  to  the  traveller,  when 
among  the  Druses,  that  a  mineral  was  discovered  which 
produced  both  lead  and  silver  ;  though,  as  such  a  discovery 
would  have  ruined  the  whole  district  by  attracting  the 
attention  of  the  Turks,  they  made  haste  to  destroy  every 

*  Travels  or  Observations  relating  to  several  parts  of  Barbary  and  the 
Levant,  voL  ii.  p.  15& 


308  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 

vestige  of  it.  A  similar  feeling  prevails  respecting  precious 
stones, — the  branch  of  mineralogy  which  first  gains  the 
attention  of  a  rude  people.  From  the  geological  character 
of  the  Syrian  mountains,  there*  is  no  doubt  that  Palestine 
might  boast  of  the  topaz,  the  emerald,  the  chryso-beryl, 
several  varieties  of  rock-crystal,  and  also  of  the  finer  jas¬ 
pers.  The  Sacred  Writings  prove  that  the  Jews  were  ac¬ 
quainted  with  a  considerable  variety  of  ornamental  stones, 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  description  of  the  mystical  city  in  the 
book  of  Revelation,  of  which  “  the  twelve  gates  were  twelve 
pearls.”  But  the  present  inhabitants  of  Canaan,  regardless 
of  the  natural  wealth  with  which  the  hills  and  the  valleys 
abound,  trust  to  violence  for  the  means  of  luxury,  and  to 
the  most  unprincipled  extortion  and  robbery  for  their  ac¬ 
customed  revenue.  From  them,  therefore,  neither  know¬ 
ledge  nor  elegance  can  ever  be  expected  to  receive  any 
attention. 


SECTION  II. - METEOROLOGY. 

Under  this  head  we  include  the  usual  properties  of  the 
atmosphere  which  minister  to  health  and  vegetation,  for  it 
has  been  justly  remarked  that  Syria  has  three  climates. 
The  summits  of  Libanus,  for  instance,  covered  with  snow, 
diffuse  a  salubrious  coolness  in  the  interior ;  the  flat  situa¬ 
tions,  on  the  contrary,  especially  those  which  stretch  along 
the  line  of  the  coast,  are  constantly  subjected  to  heat, 
accompanied  with  great  humidity ;  while  the  adjoining 
plains  of  the  desert  are  scorched  by  the  rays  of  a  burning 
sun.  The  seasons  and  the  productions,  of  course,  undergo 
a  corresponding  variation.  In  the  mountains  the  months 
of  spring  and  summer  very  nearly  coincide  with  those  in  the 
southern  parts  of  Europe  ;  and  the  winter,  which  lasts 
from  November  till  March,  is  sharp  and  rigorous.  No 
year  passes  without  snow,  which  often  covers  the  surface 
of  the  ground  to  the  depth  of  several  feet  during  many 
weeks.  The  spring  and  autumn  are  agreeable,  and  the 
summer  by  no  means  oppressive.  But  in  the  plains,  on  the 
other  hand,  as  soon  as  the  sun  has  passed  the  equator,  a 
sudden  transition  takes  place  to  an  overpowering  heat, 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


309 


which  continues  till  October.  To  compensate  for  this, 
however,  the  winter  is  so  temperate  that  orange-trees,  dates, 
bananas,  and  other  delicate  fruits  grow  in  the  open  field. 
Hence,  we  need  hardly  observe  that  a  journey  of  a  few 
hours  carries  the  traveller  through  a  succession  of  seasons, 
and  allows  him  a  choice  of  climate,  varying  from  the  mild 
temperature  of  France  to  the  blood-heat  of  India,  or  the 
pinching  cold  of  Russia. 

The  winds  in  Palestine,  as  in  all  countries  which  ap¬ 
proach  the  tropics,  are  periodical,  and  governed  in  no  small 
degree  by  the  course  of  the  sun.  About  the  autumnal  equi¬ 
nox,  the  north-west  begins  to  blow  with  frequency  and 
strength.  It  renders  the  air  dry,  clear,  and  sharp  ;  and  it 
is  remarkable  that  on  the  seacoast  it  causes  the  headache, 
like  the  north-east  wind  in  Egypt.  We  may  further  ob¬ 
serve,  that  it  usually  blows  three  days  successively,  like  the 
south  and  south-east  at  the  other  equinox.  It  continues  to 
prevail  till  November,  that  is,  about  fifty  days,  when  it  is 
followed  by  the  west  and  south-west,  called  by  the  Arabs 
“  the  fathers  of  rain.”  In  March  arise  the  pernicious  winds 
from  the  southern  quarter,  with  the  same  circumstances  as 
in  Egypt ;  but  they  become  feebler  as  we  advance  towards 
the  north,  and  are  much  more  supportable  in  the  mountains 
than  in  the  low  country.  Their  duration  at  each  return 
varies  from  twenty-four  hours  to  three  days.  The  easterly 
winds,  which  come  next  in  order,  continue  till  June,  when 
they  are  commonly  succeeded  by  an  inconstant  breeze  from 
the  north.  At  this  season  the  wind  shifts  through  all  the 
points  every  day,  passing  with  the  sun  from  east  to  south, 
and  from  south  to  west,  to  return  by  the  north  and  recom¬ 
mence  the  same  circuit.  At  this  time,  too,  a  local  wind, 
called  the  land-breeze,  prevails  along  the  coast  during  the 
night  ;  it  springs  up  after  sunset,  lasts  till  the  appearance 
of  the  solar  orb  in  the  morning,  and  extends  only  a  few 
leagues  to  sea. 

Travellers  have  observed  that  thunder,  in  the  lowlands 
of  Palestine  as  well  as  in  Egypt,  is  more  common  during  the 
winter  than  in  summer;  while  in  the  mountains,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  more  frequent  in  the  latter  season,  and  very 
seldom  heard  in  the  former.  In  both  these  countries  it  hap¬ 
pens  oftenest  in  the  rainy  season,  or  about  the  time  of  the 
equinoxes,  especially  the  autumnal  •  and  it  is  further  re- 


310  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


markable  that  it  never  comes  from  the  land  side,  but  always 
from  the  sea.  These  storms,  too,  generally  speaking,  take 
place  either  in  the  evening  or  morning,  and  rarely  in  the 
middle  of  the  day.  They  are  accompanied  with  violent 
showers  of  rain,  and  sometimes  of  uncommonly  large  hail, 
which,  soon  covering  the  face  of  the  country  with  stagnant 
water,  give  rise  to  a  copious  evaporation. 

The  phenomenon  alluded  to  by  the  prophet  Elijah  is  still 
found  to  diversify  the  aspect  of  the  eastern  sky.  Volney 
remarks,  that  clouds  are  sometimes  seen  to  dissolve  and  dis¬ 
perse  like  smoke  ;  while  on  other  occasions  they  form  in  an 
instant,  and  from  a  small  speck  increase  to  a  prodigious 
size.  This  is  particularly  observable  at  the  summit  of 
Lebanon  ;  and  mariners  have  usually  found  that  the  ap¬ 
pearance  of  a  cloud  on  this  peak  is  an  infallible  presage  of 
a  westerly  wind,  one  of  the  “  fathers  of  rain”  in  the  climate 
of  Judea.* 

Waterspouts  are  not  unfrequent  along  the  shores  of  Syria, 
and  more  especially  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mount  Carmel. 
Those  observed  by  Dr.  Shaw  appeared  to  be  so  many  cylin¬ 
ders  of  water  falling  down  from  the  clouds  ;  though  by  the 
reflection  it  might  be  of  these  descending  columns,  or  from 
the  actual  dropping  of  the  fluid  contained  in  them,  they 
would  sometimes,  says  he,  appear  at  a  distance  to  be  sucked 
up  from  the  sea.  The  theory  of  waterspouts  in  the  present 
day  does  in  fact  admit  the  supposition  here  referred  to; 
that  the  air,  being  rarefied  by  particular  causes,  has  its  equi¬ 
librium  restored  by  the  elevation  of  the  water,  on  the  same 
principle  that  mercury  rises  in  the  barometer,  or  the  con¬ 
tents  of  a  well  in  a  common  pump.  The  opinions  of  the 
learned  traveller  on  this  subject  are  extremely  loose  and  un¬ 
scientific,  and  are  only  valuable  in  our  times  as  marking  a 
certain  stage  in  the  progress  of  meteorological  inquiry. 

The  same  author  has  recorded  a  fact  which  we  have  not 
observed  in  the  pages  of  any  other  tourist.  In  travelling 
by  night,  in  the  beginning  of  April,  through  the  valleys  of 
Mount  Ephraim,  he  was  attended  for  more  than  an  hour  by 
an  ■ignis  fatuus  that  displayed  itself  in  a  variety  of  extraor¬ 
dinary  appearances.  It  was  sometimes  globular,  and  some¬ 
times  pointed  like  the  flame  of  a  candle ;  then  it  spread 

*  Travels  or  Observations,  vol.  ii.  p.  135. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE.  311 


itself  so  as  to  involve  the  whole  company  in  its  pale  inof¬ 
fensive  light  ;  after  which  it  contracted,  and  suddenly  dis¬ 
appeared.  But  in  less  than  a  minute  it  would  begin  again 
to  exert  itself  as  at  other  times,  running  along  from  one 
place  to  another  with  great  swiftness,  like  a  train  of  gun¬ 
powder  set  on  fire  ;  or  else  it  would  expand  itself  over  more 
than  two  or  three  acres  of  the  adjacent  mountains,  discover¬ 
ing  every  shrub  and  tree  that  grew  upon  them.  The  atmos¬ 
phere  from  the  beginning  of  the  evening  had  been  remark¬ 
ably  thick  and  hazy ;  and  the  dew,  as  felt  upon  the  bridles, 
was  unusually  clammy  and  unctuous.  In  such  weather 
similar  luminous  bodies  are  observed  skipping  about  the 
masts  and  yards  of  ships,  and  are  called  by  the  mariners 
corpusansc ,  a  corruption  of  the  cuerpo  santo,  or  sacred  body, 
of  the  Spaniards.  The  same  were  the  Castor  and  Pollux 
of  the  ancients.  Some  writers  have  attempted  to  account 
for  these  phenomena,  particularly  for  the  ignis  fatuus,  by 
supposing  it  to  be  occasioned  by  successive  swarms  of  flying 
glowworms,  or  other  insects  of  the  same  nature.  But,  as 
Dr.  Shaw  observes,  not  to  perceive  or  feel  any  of  these 
insects,  even  when  the  light  which  they  produce  spreads 
itself  around  us,  should  induce  us  to  explain  both  this  ap¬ 
pearance  and  the  other  on  the  received  principle  that  they 
are  actually  meteors,  or  a  species  of  natural  phosphorus.* 


SECTION  III. - ZOOLOGY. 

In  this  article  we  shall  confine  our  attention  to  such  ani¬ 
mals  as  are  mentioned  in  Holy  Scripture  ;  our  object  being 
restricted  to  an  elucidation  of  the  natural  history  of  Pales- 
*  tine  as  it  presents  itself  to  the  common  reader,  and  not 
according  to  the  arrangement  which  might  be  required  by 
the  rules  of  science. 

In  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  where  a  dis¬ 
tinction  is  made  between  the  clean  and  the  unclean,  or 
those  which  might  be  eaten  and  those  which  were  prohibited, 
we  find  in  the  former  class  the  ox,  the  sheep,  the  goat,  the 
hart,  the  roebuck,  the  fallow-deer,  the  wild  goat,  the  py- 
garg,  the  wild  ox,  and  the  chamois.  As  to  the  domesticated 

*  Travels  through  Syria  and  Egypt,  vol.  i.  p.  313. 


312  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


animals,  which  are  common  in  all  countries,  we  shall  not 
waste  time  by  exhibiting  any  description.  The  next  in 
order,  or  “  hart,”  is  also  quite  familiar  ;  but  every  scholar 
knows  that  the  Hebrew  term  ail  is  so  vague  in  its  import, 
that  it  has  been  understood  to  signify  a  tree  as  well  as  a 
quadruped.  Thus  the  tine  expression  in  the  forty-ninth 
chapter  of  Genesis,  uttered  by  Jacob  in  reference  to  one  of 
his  children,  “  Naphtali  is  a  hind  let  loose  ;  be  giveth  goodly 
words,”  has  been  translated  by  Bochart,  Houbigant,  and 
others,  in  these  terms  : — “  Naphtali  is  a  spreading  tree, 
giving  out  beautiful  branches.”  The  meaning  of  the  patri¬ 
arch  unquestionably  was,  that  the  tribe  about  to  descend 
from  his  son  would  be  active  and  powerful,  enjoying  at  once 
unrestrained  freedom  and  abundance  of  food.  It  might  be 
expressed  thus  : — Naphtali  is  a  deer  roaming  at  liberty  ;  he 
shooteth  forth  noble  branches,  or  majestic  antlers  ;  his  resi¬ 
dence  shall  be  in  a  beautiful  woodland  country  ;  and,  as 
Moses  also  predicted,  “he  shall  be  filled  with  the  blessings 
of  the  Lord.” 

The  roebuck ,  or  tzebi  of  the  Hebrews,  is  regarded  by  Dr. 
Shaw  as  the  gazelle,  or  antelope, — a  beautiful  creature, 
which  is  very  common  all  over  Greece,  Syria,  the  Holy 
Land,  Egypt,  and  Barbary.  It  is  known  among  Greek 
naturalists  by  the  name  of  dorcas ,  from  an  allusion  to  its 
fine  eyes,  the  brilliancy  and  liveliness  of  which  have  passed 
into  a  proverb  in  all  eastern  countries.  The  damsel  whose 
name  was  Tabitha,  which  is  by  interpretation  Dorcas,  might 
be  so  called  from  this  particular  feature.  The  antelope 
likewise  is  in  great  esteem  among  the  orientals  for  food, 
having  a  very  sweet  musky  taste,  which  is  highly  agreeable 
to  their  palates  ;  and,  therefore,  the  tzebi  might  well  be  re¬ 
ceived  as  one  of  the  dainties  at  Solomon’s  table.*  If,  then, 
says  the  author  just  quoted,  we  lay  all  these  circumstances  . 
together,  they  will  appear  to  be  much  more  applicable  to  the 
gazelle,  or  antelope,  which  is  a  quadruped  well  known  and 
gregarious,  than  to  the  roe,  which  was  either  not  known  at 
all,  or  at  least  was  very  rare  in  those  countries. 

The  fallow-deer ,  or  yachmur  of  the  Bible,  is  received 
among  commentators  as  the  wild  beeve, — an  animal  equal  in 
size  to  the  stag,  or  red  deer,  to  which  it  bears  some  resem¬ 
blance.  It  frequents  the  solitary  parts  of  Judea  and  the 


1  Kings  iv.  23. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE.  313 


surrounding  countries,  and,  like  the  antelope,  is  everywhere 
gregarious.  Its  flesh  is  also  very  sweet  and  nourishing, 
and  was  frequently  seen  at  the  tables  of  kings. 

The  wild  goat ,  or  akko,  mentioned  in  Deuteronomy,  is 
not  held  sufficiently  specific  by  naturalists,  who  imagine  that 
it  must  be  identified  with  another  animal  called  bv  the  Sev- 
enty  tragelaphus,  literally  the  goat-deer.  The  horns  of  this 
species,  which  are  furrowed  and  wrinkled  as  in  the  goat 
kind,  are  a  foot  or  fifteen  inches  long,  and  bend  over  the 
back  ;  though  they  are  shorter  and  more  crooked  than  those 
of  the  ibex  or  steinbuck.  It  is  not  unfrequently  known  by 
the  more  familiar  name  of  lerwee. 

Considerable  obscurity  hangs  over  the  natural  history  of 
the  pygarg,  the  characteristics  of  which  have  not  hitherto 
been  well  determined.  The  word  itself,  it  has  been  re¬ 
marked,  seems  to  denote  a  creature  whose  hinder  parts  are 
of  a  white  colour.  Such,  says  Dr.  Shaw,  is  the  lidmee 
which  is  shaped  exactly  like  the  common  antelope,  with 
which  it  agrees  in  colour  and  in  the  shape  of  its  horns,  only 
that  in  the  lidmee  they  are  of  twice  the  length,  as  the  animal 
itself  is  of  twice  the  size. 

The  sixth  species  is  the  wild  ox,  or  thau  of  the  Mosaicat 
catalogue,  which  has  generally  been  rendered  the  oryx.  Now 
this  animal  is  described  to  be  of  the  goat  kind,  with  the  hair 
growing  forward,  or  towards  the  head.  It  is  further  de¬ 
scribed  to  be  of  the  size  of  a  beeve,  and  to  be  likewise  a 
fierce  creature,  contrary  to  what  is  observed  of  the  goat  or 
deer  kind,  which,  unless  they  are  irritated  and  highly  pro¬ 
voked,  are  all  of  them  of  a  shy  and  timorous  nature.  The 
only  quadruped  that  wre  are  acquainted  with  to  which  these 
marks  will  apply  is  the  buffalo,  well  known  in  Egypt  and  in 
various  parts  of  Western  Asia.  It  may  be  so  far  reckoned 
of  the  goat  kind,  as  the  horns  are  not  smooth  and  even  as  in 
the  beeve,  but  rough  and  wrinkled  as  in  the  goat.  It  is, 
besides,  nearly  the  same  as  the  common  beeve,  and  there¬ 
fore  agrees  so  far  with  the  description  of  Herodotus.  It  is 
also  a  sullen,  spiteful  animal,  being  often  known  to  pursue 
the  unwary,  especially  if  clad  in  scarlet.  For  these  reasons, 
the  buffalo  may  not  improperly  be  taken  for  the  thau  or 
oryx,  whereof  we  have  had  hitherto  little  account.* 


*  Shaw’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  280. 

Dd 


314  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


The  chamois ,  or  zomer  of  the  ancient  Jews,  has  by  dif¬ 
ferent  authors  been  described  as  the  camelopard  or  giraffe. 
The  Syriac  version  renders  the  original  term  into  one  which 
signifies  the  mountain-goat,  and  so  far  coincides  with  our 
common  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  though  it  is  extremely 
doubtful  whether  the  chamois  or  the  ibex  was  to  be  found 
in  any  district  of  Palestine.  Dr.  Shaw  holds  the  opinion 
that  the  zomer  must  have  been  the  giraffe;  for  though  it 
was  a  rare  animal,  and  not  known  in  Europe  before  the 
dictatorship  of  Julius  Csesar,  it  might,  he  thinks,  have  been 
common  enough  in  Egypt,  as  it  was  a  native  of  Ethiopia, 
the  adjoining  country.  It  may  therefore  be  presumed,  says 
he,  that  the  Israelites,  during  their  long  residence  in  the 
land  of  the  Pharaohs,  were  not  only  well  acquainted  with  it, 
but  might  at  different  times  have  tasted  its  flesh. 

This  inference  is  rejected  with  some  show  of  reason  by 
the  editor  of  Calmet’s  Dictionary,  who  remarks,  it  is  very 
unlikely  that  the  giraffe,  being  a  native  of  the  torrid  zone 
and  attached  to  hot  countries,  should  be  so  abundant  in 
Judea  as  to  be  made  an  article  of  food.  The  same  argument 
applies  to  the  chamois,  which,  as  it  inhabits  the  highest 
mountains,  and  seeks  the  most  elevated  spots,  where  snow 
and  ice  prevail,  to  shelter  it  from  the  heat  of  summer,  was 
probably  unknown  to  the  people  of  Israel.  Hence,  it  still 
remains  doubtful  to  what  class  of  animals  the  zomer  of  Moses 
should  be  attached,  though,  in  our  opinion,  the  balance  of 
authorities  seems  to  incline  in  favour  of  a  small  species  of 
goat  which  browsed  in  the  hill-country  of  Syria. 

The  unicorn ,  or  reem,  mentioned  in  the  book  of  Job,  has 
given  similar  occasion  to  a  variety  of  opinion.  Parkhurst 
imagines  that  by  this  term  is  meant  the  wild  bull,  for  it  is 
evidently  an  animal  of  great  strength  and  possessed  of  horns. 
Mr.  Scott,  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Bible,  adopts  the  same 
view,  and  reminds  his  reader,  that  the  bulls  of  Bashan  de¬ 
scribed  by  the  Psalmist  are  by  the  same  inspired  writer  de¬ 
nominated  reems.  Other  expounders  of  Sacred  Writ  main¬ 
tain  that  the  creature  alluded  to  by  the  patriarch  of  Uz  can 
have  been  no  other  than  the  double-horned  rhinoceros.* 

The  wild  ass ,  or  para,  celebrated  by  the  same  ancient 
author,  is  generally  understood  to  be  the  onager,  an  animal 


*  Job  xxxix.  ver.  9,  10,  11,  12. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


315 


which  is  to  this  day  highly  prized  in  Persia  and  the  deserts 
of  Tartary,  as  being  fitter  for  the  saddle  than  the  finest 
breed  of  horses.  It  has  nothing  of  the  dulness  or  stu¬ 
pidity  of  the  common  ass  ;  is  extremely  beautiful ;  and, 
when  properly  trained,  is  docile  and  tractable  in  no  common 
degree.  It  was  this  more  valuable  kind  of  ass  that  Saul 
was  in  search  of  when  he  was  chosen  by  the  prophet  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  royalty.  “  Who  hath  sent  out  the 
wild  ass  free!  or  who  hath  loosed  the  bands  of  the  wild 
ass  1  whose  house  I  have  made  the  wilderness,  and  the 
barren  land  his  dwellings.  He  scorneth  the  multitude  of 
the  city,  neither  regardeth  he  the  crying  of  the  driver.  The 
range  of  the  mountains  is  his  pasture,  and  he  searcheth 
after  every  green  thing.”* 

The  “  wild  goats  of  the  rock,”  described  in  the  chapter 
just  quoted,  are  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  the  ibex  or 
bouquetin.  This  animal  is  larger  than  the  tame  goat,  but 
resembles  it  much  in  form.  The  head  is  small  in  propor¬ 
tion  to  the  body,  with  the  muzzle  thick  and  compressed, 
and  a  little  arched.  The  eyes  are  large  and  round,  and 
have  much  fire  and  brilliancy.  The  horns  are  so  majestic, 
that  when  fully  grown  they  occasionally  weigh  sixteen  or 
eighteen  pounds.  Ide  feeds  during  the  night  in  the  highest 
woods  ;  but  the  sun  no  sooner  begins  to  gild  the  summits, 
than  he  quits  the  woody  region,  and  mounts,  feeding  in  his 
progress,  till  he  has  reached  the  most  considerable  heights. 
The  female  shows  much  attachment  to  her  young,  and  even 
defends  it  against  eagles,  wolves,  and  other  enemies.  She 
takes  refuge  in  some  cavern,  and,  presenting  her  head  at  the 
entrance  of  the  hole,  resolutely  opposes  the  assailants. 
Hence  the  allusion  to  this  affectionate  creature  in  the  book 
of  Proverbs,  “  Let  thy  wife  be  as  the  loving  hind  and  the 
pleasant  roe.” 

The  saphan  of  the  Bible  is  usually  translated  cony. 
“  The  high  hills  are  a  refuge  for  the  wild  goats,  and  the 
rocks  for  the  conies.”  But  it  is  now  believed  that  the  ash- 
koko,  an  animal  mentioned  by  Bruce,  presents  properties 
which  accord  much  better  with  the  description  of  the  saphan 
given  in  different  parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  than  the 
cony,  hare,  or  rabbit.  This  curious  creature,  we  are  told 


*  Job  xxxix.  5,  6,  7,  8 . 


316  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 

by  that  traveller,  is  found  in  Ethiopia,  in  the  caverns  of  the 
rocks,  or  under  great  stones.  It  does  not  burrow  or  make 
holes  like  the  rat  or  rabbit,  nature  having  interdicted  this 
practice  by  furnishing  it  with  feet,  the  toes  of  which  are 
perfectly  round,  and  of  a  soft,  pulpy,  tender  substance  :  the 
fleshy  part  of  them  projects  beyond  the  nails,  which  are 
rather  sharp,  very  similar  to  a  man’s  nails  ill-grown,  and 
appear  given  to  it  rather  for  the  defence  of  its  soft  toes,  than 
for  any  active  use  in  digging,  to  which  they  are  by  no  means 
adapted.* 

A  living  writer,  who  has  considered  this  subject  with 
great  attention,  gives  as  the  result  of  his  inquiry,  that  the 
saphan  of  the  ancient  Hebrews,  rendered  “  cony”  in  the 
English  Bible,  is  a  very  different  animal ;  that  it  has  a 
nearer  resemblance  to  the  hedgehog,  the  bear,  the  mouse, 
the  jerboa,  or  the  marmot,  though  it  is  not  any  of  these. 
It  is  the  webro  of  the  Arabians,  the  daman-Israel  of  Shaw, 
the  ashkoko  of  Bruce,  and  clipdass  of  the  Dutch. f 

The  prophet  Isaiah,  in  recording  the  idolatrous  and  pro¬ 
fane  habits  of  his  countrymen,  mentions  the  “  eating  of 
swine’s  flesh,  and  the  abomination,  and  the  mouse.”  This 
is  supposed  to  be  the  jerboa,  an  animal  common  in  the 
East,  about  the  size  of  a  rat,  and  which  only  uses  its  hind¬ 
legs.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  is  the  creature 
alluded  to  by  the  Hebrew  legislator  when  he  said,  “  What¬ 
soever  goeth  upon  its  paws,  among  all  manner  of  beasts 
that  go  on  all  four,  those  are  unclean  unto  you.”  Hassel- 
quist  tells  us  that  the  jerboa,  or  leaping-rat,  as  he  calls  it, 
moves  only  by  leaps  and  jumps.  When  he  stops  he  brings 
his  feet  close  under  his  belly,  and  rests  on  the  juncture  of 
his  leg.  He  uses,  when  eating,  his  fore-paws,  like  other 
animals  of  his  kind.  He  sleeps  by  day,  and  is  in  motion 
during  the  night.  He  eats  corn  and  grains  of  sesamum. 
Though  he  does  not  fear  man,  he  is  not  easily  tamed  ;  for 
which  reason  he  must  be  kept  in  a  cage. 

The  porcupine,  or  kephad,  is  spoken  of  in  the  writings 
of  Isaiah  under  the  denomination  of  the  bittern.  “  I  will 
make  Babylon  a  possession  for  the  bittern  and  pools  of. 

*  Appendix  to  Pruce’s  Travels,  p.  139. 

t  See  an  article  in  the  sixth  volume  of  the  Wernerian  Memoirs,  by 
Hr.  Scott,  of  Corstorphine,  “  On  the  Animal  called  Saphan  in  the  He ' 
brew  Scriptures.” 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE.  317 


water.”  In  another  chapter,  the  inspired  author  associates 
the  kephad  with  the  pelican,  with  the  yanshaph  or  ardea- 
ibis,  and  with  oreb,  or  the  raven  kind  ;  and  hence  a  con¬ 
siderable  difficulty  has  arisen  in  regard  to  the  class  of  ani¬ 
mals  in  which  it  ought  to  be  ranked.  Bochart  had  no  doubt 
that  the  porcupine  was  in  the  mind  of  the  prophet  when  he 
wrote  the  description  of  the  Assyrian  capital  wasted  and 
abandoned.  This  creature  is  a  native  of  the  hottest  climates 
of  Africa  and  India,  and  yet  can  live  and  multiply  in  milder 
latitudes.  It  is  now  found  in  Spain,  and  in  the  Apennines 
near  Rome.  Pliny  asserts  that  the  porcupine,  like  the 
bear,  hides  itself  in  winter.  In  a  Memoir  on  Babylon,  by 
the  late  Mr.  Rich,  it  is  stated  that  great  quantities  of  por¬ 
cupine-quills  were  found  on  the  spot ;  and  that  in  most  of 
the  cavities  are  numbers  of  bats  and  owls. 

The  mole  and  the  bat  are  reckoned  among-  the  unclean 
animals  forbidden  to  the  Jews  by  their  Divine  lawgiver. 
The  latter  is  distinctly  included  under  the  following  descrip¬ 
tion  :  “  Every  creeping  thing  that  flieth  shall  be  unclean  to 
you  ;  they  shall  not  be  eaten.”  The  legs  of  the  bat  appear 
to  be  absolutely  different  from  those  of  all  other  animals, 
and  indeed  they  are  directed,  and  even  formed  in  a  very 
particular  manner.  In  order  to  advance,  he  raises  both  his 
front-legs  at  once,  and  places  them  at  a  small  distance  for¬ 
ward;  at  the  same  time  the  thumb  of  each  foot  points  out¬ 
ward,  and  the  creature  catches  with  the  claw  at  any  thing 
which  it  can  lay  hold  of ;  then  he  stretches  behind  him  his 
two  hind-legs,  so  that  the  five  toes  of  each  foot  are  also 
directed  backward  ;  he  supports  himself  on  the  sole  of  this 
foot,  and  secures  himself  by  means  of  the  claws  on  his 
toes  ;  then  he  raises  his  body  on  the  front-legs,  and  throws 
himself  forward  by  folding  the  upper  arm  on  the  fore-arm, 
which  motion  is  assisted  by  the  extension  of  the  hind-legs, 
which  also  push  the  body  forward.  This  gait,  though 
heavy,  because  the  body  falls  to  the  ground  at  every  step,  is 
yet  sometimes  pretty  quick,  when  the  feet  can  readily  meet 
with  good  holding-places ;  but  when  the  claw  of  the  front 
foot  meets  with  any  thing  loose,  the  exertion  is  inefficient.* 

*  Daubenton,  Calmet,  vol.  iv.  p.  645  See  also  Shaw,  Hasselquist, 
and  Bochart 


Dd2 


318  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


SECTION  IV. - BIRDS. 

In  the  writings  of  Moses,  the  winged  tribes  are  divided 
into  three  classes,  according  as  they  occupy  the  air,  the  land, 
or  the  water. 


BIRDS  OF  THE  AIR. 


English  Translation. 

Eagle . 

Ossifrage... . . 

Ospray . 

Vulture . 

Kite . . . . . 

Raven . 

Probable  Species. 

LAND  BIRDS. 

Owl . 

Night-hawk . . . 

Cuckoo . . . 

Hawk . 

WATER  BIRDS. 

Little  Owl . . 

Cormorant . 

Great  Owl . 

Swan  . 

Pelican . . . 

Gier  Eagle . 

Srork  . 

Heron . 

Lapwing . . . 


Sea-gull. 

Cormorant. 

■  Ibis  Ardea. 

■  Wild  Goose. 
.Pelican. 

•  Alcyone. 

■  Stork. 

■  Long  neck. 

.  Hoopoe. 


These  are  the  unclean  birds,  according  to  the  Mosaical 
arrangement  and  the  views  of  the  English  translators.  But 
it  must  not  be  concealed,  that  the  attainments  of  the  latter 
in  ornithology  were  not  particularly  accurate  ;  and,  as  a 
proof  of  this,  we  may  mention  a  fact  obvious  to  the  youngest 
student  of  Oriental  languages,  that  the  same  Hebrew  words 
in  Leviticus  and  Deuteronomy  are  not  always  rendered  by 
the  same  term  in  our  tongue.  For  example,  the  vulture  of 
the  former  book  is  in  the  latter  called  the  glede  ;  and  there 
are  many  similar  variations,  in  different  parts  of  the  Old 
Testament,  in  regard  to  the  others. 

Tho  swan ,  or  tinshemet  of  the  Hebrews,  is  a  very  doubt¬ 
ful  bird.  The  Seventy  render  it  by  porphyrion ,  which  sig¬ 
nifies  a  purple  hen,  a  water- fowl  well  known  in  the  East, 


Natural  history  of  Palestine.  319 


Dr.  Geddes  observes  that  the  root  or  etymon  of  the  term 
tinshcmel  denotes  breathing  or  respiring , — a  description 
which  is  supposed  to  point  to  a  well-known  quality  in  the 
swan,  that  of  being  able  to  respire  a  long  time  with  its  bill 
and  neck  under  water,  and  even  plunged  in  mud.  Park- 
hurst  thinks  the  conjecture  of  Michaelis  not  improbable, 
namely,  “  that  it  is  the  goose,  which  every  one  knows  is 
remarkable  for  its  manner  of  breathing  out  or  hissing  when 
provoked.”  The  latter  writer  observes,  “what  makes  me 
conjecture  this  is,  that  the  Chaldee  interpreters  who  in 
Leviticus  render  it  obija,  do  not  use  this  word  in  Deuter¬ 
onomy,  but  substitute  the  ‘  white  kak,’  which,  according  to 
Buxtorf,  denotes  the  goose.”  Norden  mentions  a  goose 
of  the  Nile  whose  plumage  is  extremely  beautiful.  It  is  of 
an  exquisite  aromatic  taste,  smells  of  ginger,  and  has  a  great 
deal  of  flavour.  Can  this  be  the  Hebrew  tinshemet ,  and  the 
porphyrion  of  the  Seventy  1 

Again,  it  is  conjectured  by  modern  naturalists  that  the 
heron  should  be  included  among  storks.  Commentators,  it 
is  true,  are  quite  at  a  loss  in  regard  to  the  precise  import 
of  the  original  term  anapha,  and  some  of  them  accordingly 
leave  it  altogether  untranslated.  It  is  not  improbable  that 
the  Long-neck  mentioned  by  Dr.  Shaw  may  be  the  animal 
alluded  to  by  the  sacred  lawgiver.  This  bird,  we  are  told, 
is  of  the  bittern  kind,  somewhat  less  than  the  lapwing. 
The  neck,  the  breast,  and  the  belly  are  of  a  light  yellow 
colour,  while  the  back  and  upper  part  of  the  wings  are  jet- 
black.  The  tail  is  short ;  the  feathers  of  the  neck  are  long, 
and  streaked  with  white  or  a  pale  yellow.  The  bill,  which 
is  three  inches  long,  is  green,  and  in  form  like  that  of  the 
stork ;  and  the  legs,  which  are  short  and  slender,  are  of  the 
same  colour.  In  walking  and  searching  for  food,  it  throws 
out  its  neck  seven  or  eight  inches ;  whence  the  Arabs  call 
it  Boo-onk,  or  Long-neck.* 

The  hoopoe  is  thought  to  be  pretty  wrell  ascertained  ;  yet 
we  might  suppose  that  a  bird  which  frequents  water  more 
than  the  European  variety  does,  would  not  have  been  mis¬ 
placed  at  the  close  of  the  list  given  above.  The  accuracy 
of  the  inspired  writer,  however,  in  treating  this  part  of  the 
subject,  has  been  generally  extolled, — an  accuracy  which, 

*  Cal  met ’a  Dictionary,  voL  iv.  p.  659. 


320  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


there  is  no  doubt,  will  hereafter  lead  to  the  most  satisfac¬ 
tory  conclusions  in  determining  the  several  species  he  enu¬ 
merates.  All  these  birds  being  fish-eaters,  no  distinction 
is  afforded  arising  from  diversity  of  food  ;  but  the  Hebrew 
naturalist  begins  with  those  which  inhabit  the  sea  and  its 
rocky  cliffs,  the  gannet  and  the  cormorant ;  then  he  pro¬ 
ceeds  to  the  marsh  birds,  the  bitterns  ;  then  to  the  river  and 
lake  birds,  the  pelican,  the  kingfisher,  or  the  shagarag  ; 
then  the  stork,  which  is -a  bird  of  passage,  lives  on  land  as 
well  as  on  water,  and  feeds  on  frogs  and  insects  no  less 
than  on  fish  ;  then  to  another,  which  probably  is  a  bird  of 
passage  also,  because  it  is  mentioned  the  last  in  the  cata¬ 
logue.  The  hoopoe  is  certainly  a  migratory  bird,  feeds  less 
on  fish  than  any  of  the  former  kinds,  and  has,  in  fact,  no 
great  relation  to  the  water. 

It  was  objected  by  Michaelis  that  the  chasidah  of  the 
Hebrews  could  not  be  the  stork,  because  the  latter  bird 
does  not  usually  roost  on  trees  ;  and  yet  it  is  asserted  in 
the  hundred-and-fourth  Psalm,  that  the  fir-trees  are  a  dwell¬ 
ing  for  the  stork.  But  Doubdan,  who  had  no  hypothesis 
to  maintain,  relates  that  he  saw  storks  resting  on  trees  be¬ 
tween  Cana  and  Nazareth  ;  and  Dr.  Shaw  says  expressly, 
the  storks  breed  plentifully  in  Barbary ;  and  that  the  fir- 
trees,  and  other  trees  when  these  are  wanting,  are  a 
“  dwelling  for  the  stork.”  It  is  therefore  probable  that 
this  bird  conforms  its  manners  to  circumstances  ;  that 
wherever  it  obtains  rest,  security,  and  accommodation,  there 
it  resides,  whether  in  a  ruin  or  a  forest.  So  that  on  the 
whole  we  need  not  hesitate,  merely  because  the  European 
stork  seldom  inhabits  trees,  to  admit  that  it  is  the  chasidah 
of  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 

We  purposely  abstain  from  the  description  of  such  birds 
as  arc  common  to  Palestine  and  to  the  climates  of  Europe. 
The  ostrich,  no  doubt,  is  peculiar  to  the  deserts  of  Syria 
and  of  Arabia,  and  might  therefore  demand  a  more  minute 
delineation  than  is  consistent  with  our  limits.  Suffice  it 
to  mention,  that  it  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  remark¬ 
able  of  the  feathered  tribes,  and  has  been  celebrated  from 
the  most  remote  antiquity  by  many  fabulous  writers,  who 
ascribe  to  it  qualities  more  wonderful  than  even  those  which 
it  actually  possesses.  Its  height  is  estimated  at  seven  or 
eight  feet,  and  in  swiftness  it  surpasses  every  other  animal. 


Natural  history  of  Palestine.  321 


That  it  is  gregarious  no  naturalist  any  longer  doubts,  being 
generally  seen  in  large  troops  at  a  great  distance  from  the 
habitations  of  man.  The  egg  is  about  three  pounds  in 
weight,  and  in  the  warmer  countries  of  the  East  is  usually 
hatched  by  the  rays  of  the  sun  alone  ;  though  in  less 
heated  regions  the  bird  is  observed  to  practise  incubation. 

The  same  remarks  might  be  applied  to  the  pelican, 
whose  solitary  life  as  an  inhabitant  of  the  desert  is  occa¬ 
sionally  referred  to  in  the  Sacred  Writings.  It  appears, 
however,  that  this  bird  is  migratory,  whence  we  may  con¬ 
clude  that  it  is  also  gregarious,  and  does  not  always  remain 
alone.  In  their  motion  through  the  air,  the  pelicans  imi¬ 
tate  the  procedure  of  the  wild-goose,  and  form  their  van 
into  an  acute  angle.  When  of  full  age,  the  male  is  supe¬ 
rior  in  size  to  the  swan,  weighs  twenty-live  pounds,  and 
from  wing  to  wing  extends  not  less  than  fifteen  feet.  The 
upper  mandible  is  flat  and  broad,  and  hooked  at  the  end  ; 
the  lower  mandible  has  appended  to  it  a  very  dilatable  bag, 
reaching  eight  or  nine  inches  down  the  neck,  and  large 
enough  to  contain  several  quarts  of  water.  Its  food  is  fish  ; 
in  diving  for  which  it  sometimes  descends  from  a  great 
height.  When  it  has  filled  its  pouch,  it  flies  to  some  con¬ 
venient  point  of  a  rock,  where  it  swallows  its  prey  at 
leisure.  The  vulgar  notion  that  the  female  pelican  feeds 
her  young  with  blood  from  her  breast,  has  arisen  from  the 
use  of  the  bag  just  described,  which  she  opens  from  time 
to  time  to  discharge  a  supply  of  fish  or  water  for  their 
nourishment. 


SECTION  V. - AMPHIBIA  AND  REPTILES. 

In  the  book  of  Deuteronomy  there  is  an  allusion  made 
to  a  destructive  creature  in  the  following  terms  : — “  Their 
wine  is  the  poison  of  dragons  and  the  cruel  venom  of  asps.” 
It  is  thought  that  the  gecko  is  the  animal  contemplated  in 
this  description,  it  being  acknowledged  by  all  naturalists  to 
contain  a  mortal  poison.  Nature,  in  this  instance,  says 
Buffon.,  appears  to  act  against  herself :  in  a  lizard,  whose 
species  is  but  too  prolific,  she  exalts  a  corrosive  liquid  to 
such  a  degree  as  to  carry  death  and  dissolution  into  all  liv~ 


322 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


ing  substances  which  it  may  happen  to  penetrate.  This 
deadly  reptile  has  some  resemblance  to  the  chameleon  ;  his 
head,  almost  triangular,  is  big  in  proportion  to  his  body  ; 
the  e}^es  are  very  large,  the  tongue  is  flat,  covered  with 
small  scales,  and  the  end  is  rounded  ;  the  teeth  are  sharp, 
and  so  strong  that,  according  to  Bontius,  they  are  able  to 
make  an  impression  even  on  steel.  The  gecko  is  almost 
entirely  covered  with  large  warts,  more  or  less  rising  ;  the 
under  part  of  the  thigh  is  furnished  with  a  row  of  tubercles 
raised  and  grooved.  The  feet  are  remarkable  for  oval 
scales,  more  or  less  hollowed  in  the  middle,  as  large  as  the 
under  surface  of  the  toes  themselves,  and  regularly  dis¬ 
posed  over  one  another,  like  slates  on  a  roof.  The  usual 
colour  of  this  animal  is  a  clear  green,  spotted  with  brilliant 
red.  It  inhabits  the  crevices  of  half-rotten  trees  as  well  as 
humid  places  ;  it  is  sometimes  met  with  in  houses,  where 
it  occasions  great  alarm,  and  where  every  exertion  is  made 
to  destroy  it  speedily.  Bontius  writes,  that  the  bite  is  so 
venomous  that,  if  the  part  bitten  be  not  cut  away  or  burned, 
death  ensues  in  a  few  hours. 

Cahnet  enumerates  eleven  kinds  of  serpents  as  known 
to  the  Hebrews,  the  names  of  which  are  as  follow  : — 


1.  Ephe,  the  viper. 

2.  Chephir,  a  sort  of  aspic. 

3.  Acshub,  the  aspic. 

4.  Petlien,  a  similar  reptile. 

5.  Tzeboa,  speckled  serpent, 

6.  Tzimmaon. 


7.  Tzepho,  or  Tzephoni,  a  basi¬ 

lisk. 

8.  Kippos,  the  acontias. 

9.  Shephiphon,  the  cerastes. 

10.  Shachal,  the  black  serpent. 

11.  Saraph,  a  flying-serpent. 


The  first  of  these  is  remarkable  for  its  quick  and  pene¬ 
trating  poison  ;  it  is  about  two  feet  long,  and  as  thick  as  a 
man's  arm,  beautifully  spotted  with  yellow  and  brown,  and 
sprinkled  over  with  blackish  specks,  similar  to  those  of  the 
horn-nosed  snake.  It  has  a  wide  mouth,  by  which  it  in¬ 
hales  a  great  quantity  of  air,  and,  when  fully  inflated,  ejects 
it  with  such  violence  as  to  be  heard  at  a  considerable  dis¬ 
tance. 

The  shachal ,  or  black  serpent,  is  described  by  Forskall  as 
being  wholly  of  that  colour,  a  cubit  in  length,  and  as  thick 
as  a  finger.  Its  bite  is  not  incurable,  but  the  wound  swells 
severely  ;  the  application  of  a  ligature  prevents  the  venom 
from  spreading ;  or  certain  plants,  as  the  caper,  may  be 
employed  to  relieve  it.  Mi*.  Jackson  describes  a  black  ser- 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE.  323 

pent  of  much  more  terrific  powers.  It  is  about  seven  or 
eight  feet  long,  with  a  small  head,  which,  when  about  to 
assail  any  object,  it  frequently  expands  to  four  times 
its  ordinary  size.  It  is  the  only  one  that  will  attack  trav¬ 
ellers  ;  in  doing  which  it  coils  itself  up,  and  darts  to  a  great 
distance  by  the  elasticity  of  its  body  and  tail.  The  wound 
inflicted  by  the  bite  is  small,  but  the  surrounding  part  im¬ 
mediately  turns  black,  which  colour  soon  pervades  the 
whole  body,  and  the  sufferer  expires. 

But,  viewed  in  connexion  with  Scripture,  the  most  inter¬ 
esting  in  the  list  given  in  the  preceding  page  is  that  which 
stands  the  seventh  in  order.  Speaking  of  the  happy  time 
revealed  by  the  prophetical  spirit,  Isaiah  remarks  that  “  the 
sucking  child  shall  play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and  the 
weaned  child  shall  put  his  hand  on  the  cockatrice’  den.” 
The  editor  of  Calmet’s  Dictionary  imagines  that  the  naja, 
or  cobra  di  capello,  is  the  serpent  here  alluded  to  by  the 
holy  penman,  and  which  is  known  to  possess  the  most  ener¬ 
getic  poison.  We  cannot  indeed  discover  positively, 
whether  it  lays  eggs  ;  but  the  evidence  for  that  fact  is  pre¬ 
sumptive,  because  all  serpents  issue  from  eggs  ;  and  the 
only  difference  between  the  oviparous  and  viviparous  is, 
that  in  the  former  the  eggs  are  laid  before  the  fetus  is  ma¬ 
ture,  in  the  latter  the  fetus  bursts  the  egg  while  yet  in  the 
womb  of  its  mother. 

If  the  egg  be  broken,  the  little  serpent  is  found  rolled  up 
in  a  spiral  form.  It  appears  motionless  during  some  time  ; 
but  if  the  term  of  its  exclusion  be  near,  it  opens  its  jaws, 
inhales  at  several  respirations  the  air  of  the  atmosphere,  its 
lungs  fill,  it  stretches  itself,  and  moved  by  this  impetus  it 
begins  to  crawl. 

The  eggs  of  this  reptile  have  probably  given  occasion  to 
a  fable,  which  says  that  cocks  can  lay  eggs,  but  that  these 
always  produce  serpents  ;  and  that  though  the  cock  does 
not  hatch  them,  the  warmth  of  the  sand  and  atmosphere 
answers  the  purposes  of  incubation.  The  eggs  of  the 
tzepho,  of  which  she  lays  eighteen  or  twenty,  are  equal  to 
those  of  a  pigeon,  while  those  of  the  great  boa  are  not 
more  than  two  or  three  inches  in  length.  As  an  instance, 
that  the  eggs  of  poisonous  serpents  do  not  always  burst  in 
the  body  of  the  female,  we  may  mention  the  cerastes, 


324  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


which,  we  are  assured,  lays  in  the  sand  at  least  four  or 
five,  resembling  in  size  those  of  a  dove. 

On  the  grounds  now  explained,  we  may  understand  the 
language  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  who  says  of  the  wicked  that 
“  they  hatch  cockatrice’  eggs  ;  he  that  eateth  of  their  eggs 
dieth,  and  that  which  is  crushed  breaketh  forth  into  a  viper.” 
The  reptile  here  alluded  to  under  the  name  of  cockatrice, 
is  the  tzepho  or  tzephoni ;  which,  we  find,  lays  eggs  so  sim¬ 
ilar  to  those  of  poultry,  as  to  be  mistaken  and  eaten  for 
them.  Labat  farther  relates  that  he  crushed  some  eggs  of 
a  large  serpent,  and  found  several  young  in  each  egg ; 
which  were  no  sooner  freed  from  the  shell  than  they  coiled 
themselves  into  the  attitude  of  attack,  and  were  ready  to 
spring  on  whatever  came  in  their  way. 

In  the  forty-ninth  chapter  of  Genesis  we  find  the  remark¬ 
able  prediction  uttered  by  Jacob  in  reference  to  Dan,  that 
he  “  shall  be  a  serpent  in  the  way,  an  adder  in  the  path, 
which  biteth  the  horse’s  heels.”  The  original  term  here 
is  shephiphon,  and  is  understood  by  several  authors  to  de¬ 
note  the  cerastes,  a  very  poisonous  kind  of  viper,  distin¬ 
guished  by  having  horns.  This  animal,  we  are  informed 
by  Mr.  Bruce,  moves  with  great  rapidity,  and  in  all  direc¬ 
tions,  forward,  backward,  and  sideways.  When  he  wishes 
to  surprise  any  one  who  is  too  far  from  him,  he  creeps  with 
his  side  towards  the  person,  and  his  head  averted,  till,  judg¬ 
ing  his  distance,  he  turns  round  and  springs  upon  him.  “  I 
saw  one  of  them  at  Cairo  crawl  up  the  side  of  a  box  in 
which  there  were  many,  and  there  lie  still  as  if  hiding  him¬ 
self,  till  one  of  the  people  who  brought  him  to  us  came 
near  him  ;  and  though  in  a  very  disadvantageous  posture, 
sticking  as  it  were  perpendicularly  to  the  side  of  the  box, 
he  leaped  nearly  the  distance  of  three  feet,  and  fastened 
between  the  man’s  forefinger  and  thumb,  so  as  to  bring  the 
blood.  The  fellow  showed  no  signs  of  either  pain  or  fear ; 
and  we  kept  him  with  us  full  four  hours,  without  applying 
any  sort  of  remedy,  or  his  seeming  inclined  to  do  so.” 

The  Arabs  name  this  serpent  siff,  siphon,  or  suphon, 
which  seems  not  very  far  distant  from  the  root  of  the  He¬ 
brew  word  siffifon  or  shephiphon.  It  is  called  by  the  Ori¬ 
entals  the  lier  in  wait , — an  appellation  which  agrees  with 
the  manners  of  the  cerastes.  Pliny  says,  that  it  hides  its 
whole  body  in  the  sand,  leaving  only  its  horns  exposed, 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE.  325 


which,  being  like  grains  of  barley  in  appearance,  attract 
birds  within  its  reach,  so  as  to  become  an  easy  prey.  From 
these  circumstances  we  see,  more  distinctly,  the  propriety 
of  the  allusion  made  by  the  patriarch  to  the  insidious  policy 
which  was  to  characterize  the  descendants  of  Dan  in  the 
remoter  periods  of  their  history. 

There  is  mention  made  in  Holy  Scripture  of  the  fiery 
flying-serpent,  a  creature  about  whose  existence  and  quali¬ 
ties  naturalists  have  entertained  a  considerable  difference 
of  opinion.  It  is  now  generally  admitted,  that,  in  Guinea, 
Java,  and  other  countries,  where  there  is  at  once  great 
heat  and  a  marshy  soil,  there  exists  a  species  of  these  ani¬ 
mals,  which  have  the  power  of  moving  in  the  air,  or  at  least 
of  passing  from  tree  to  tree.  Niebuhr  relates,  that  at  Bazra, 
also,  “  there  is  a  sort  of  serpents,  called  lieie  sursurie. 
They  commonly  live  on  dates  ;  and  as  it  would  be  trouble¬ 
some  to  them  to  come  down  one  high  tree  and  creep  up 
another,  they  hang  by  the  tail  to  the  branch  of  one,  and,  by 
swinging  that  about,  take  advantage  of  its  motion  to  leap 
to  that  of  a  second.  These  the  modern  Arabs  call  flying- 
serpents — hcie  thiare.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  ancient 
Arabs  were  acquainted  with  any  other  kind  of  flying- ser¬ 
pent.”* 

Near  Batavia  there  are  certain  flying-snakes,  or  dragons, 
as  they  are  sometimes  called.  They  have  four  legs,  a  long 
tail,  and  their  skin  speckled  with  many  spots  ;  their  wings 
are  not  unlike  those  of  a  bat,  which  they  move  in  flying, 
but  otherwise  keep  them  almost  unperceived,  close  to  the 
body.  They  fly  nimbly,  but  cannot  hold  out  long  ;  so  that 
they  only  shift  from  tree  to  tree  at  about  twenty  or  thirty 
yards’  distance.  On  the  outside  of  the  throat  are  two 
bladders,  which,  being  extended  when  they  fly,  serve  them 
instead  of  a  sail.f 

The  scorpion ,  or  okrab  of  the  Hebrews,  has  also  been 
invested  by  Oriental  naturalists  with  the  power  of  flying. 
Lucian  tells  us  that  there  are  two  kinds  of  scorpions,  one 
residing  on  the  ground,  large,  having  claws,  and  many  ar¬ 
ticulations  at  the  tail ;  the  other  flies  in  the  air,  and  has 
inferior  wings  like  locusts,  beetles,  and  bats.  In  tropical 
climates  the  scorpion  is  a  foot  in  length.  No  animal  in  the 

t  Churchill’s  Voyages,  vol.  ii.  p.  296. 
Ee 


*  See  Calmet,  vol.  iv.  p.  688. 


326  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


creation  seems  endowed  with  such  an  irascible  nature. 
When  caught,  they  exert  their  utmost  rage  against  the  glass 
which  contains  them  ;  will  attempt  to  sting  a  stick  when 
put  near  them ;  will,  without  provocation,  wound  other 
animals  confined  with  them  ;  and  are  the  cruellest  enemies 
to  each  other.  Maupertuis  put  a  hundred  of  them  together 
in  the  same  glass  ;  instantly  they  vented  their  rage  in  mu¬ 
tual  destruction,  universal  carnage  !  In  a  few  days  only 
fourteen  remained,  which  had  killed  and  devoured  all  the 
others.  It  is  even  asserted,  that  when  in  extremity  or 
despair  the  scorpion  will  destroy  itself.  Well  might  Moses 
mention  this  animal  as  one  of  the  dangers  of  the  howling 
wilderness  !  They  are  still  very  numerous  in  the  desert 
between  Syria  and  Egypt.  Dr.  Clarke  tells  us  that  one  of 
the  privates  of  the  British  army,  who  had  received  a  wound 
from  one  of  them,  lost  the  upper  joint  of  his  forefinger  be¬ 
fore  it  could  be  healed.  The  author  of  the  Revelation 
considers  them  as  emblematic  of  the  evils  which  issue  from 
the  bottomless  pit.  “  And  there  came  out  of  the  smoke 
locusts  upon  the  earth  ;  and  unto  them  was  given  power, 
as  the  scorpions  of  the  earth  have  power.  And  they  had 
tails  like  unto  scorpions  ;  and  there  were  stings  in  their 
tails  :  and  their  power  was  to  hurt  men  five  months.”* 

We  ought  not  to  be  surprised  that  the  translators  of  the 
English  Bible  were  occasionally  at  a  loss  to  distinguish  the 
genera  and  species  of  the  several  animals  mentioned  in  the 
Sacred  Writings  ;  for  even  at  the  present  day,  when  we 
possess  infinitely  higher  advantages  in  point  of  natural 
knowledge,  we  cannot  precisely  determine  even  the  class 
or  order  to  which  some  of  them  belong.  We  have  an  ex¬ 
ample  of  this  obscurity  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the  book 
of  Lamentations,  where  it  is  said  that  “  even  the  sea- 
monsters  draw  out  the  breast,  they  give  suck  to  their  young 
ones.”  The  original  expression,  tannin,  appears  applicable 
to  those  amphibious  animals  that  haunt  the  banks  of  rivers 
and  the  shores  of  the  sea,  and  was  probably  used  by  the 
prophet  with  a  reference  to  the  seal  species,  which  suckle 
their  young  in  the  manner  described  in  his  pathetic  elegy. 

It  is  true,  that  it  is  used  in  Genesis  in  connexion  with 
the  epithet  large,  and  is  therefore  not  improperly  rendered 


*  Revelation  ix.  3,  10. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


327 


"great  whales.”  Hence  it  has  been  concluded,  that  the 
word  tannin  may  comprehend  the  class  of  lizards  from  the 
eft  to  the  crocodile,  provided  they  be  amphibious  ;  also  the 
seal,  the  manati,  the  morse,  and  even  the  whale,  if  he  came 
ashore  ;  but  as  whales  remain  constantly  in  the  deep,  they 
seem  to  be  more  correctly  ascribed  to  the  class  of  fishes. 
Moreover,  whether  the  people  of  Syria  had  any  knowledge 
of  the  whale  kinds,  strictly  so  called,  is  a  point  which 
deserves  inquiry  before  it  be  admitted  as  certain.  At  all 
events,  it  is  manifest  that  the  tannin  of  the  Scripture  must 
have  indicated  an  animal  which  has  many  properties  com¬ 
mon  to  the  seal,  for  it  not  only  applies  the  breast  to  its 
young,  but  has  the  power  of  exerting  its  voice  in  a  mourn¬ 
ful  tone.  The  prophet  Micah  says,  “  I  will  make  a  wailing 
like  the  tanninim,”  a  phrase  which,  in  our  translation,  is 
unhappily  rendered  “  dragons.”  It  has  also  the  faculty  of 
suspending  respiration,  or  of  drawing  in  a  quantity  of  breath 
and  of  emitting  it  with  violence.  “  The  wild  asses,”  says 
Jeremiah,  “  stand  upon  the  high  places  ;  they  puff  out  the 
breath  like  the  tanninim  (here  again  translated  dragons) ; 
their  eyes  fail  because  there  is  no  grass.”  On  the  whole, 
remarks  the  editor  of  Calmet,  we  may  consider  the  Hebrew 
tahash  as  being  decidedly  a  seal ;  but  tannin  as  including 
creatures  resident  both  on  land  and  in  water,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  amphibia.* 


SECTION  VI. - FRUITS  AND  PLANTS. 

It  has  been  remarked  that,  if  the  advantages  of  nature 
were  duly  seconded  by  the  efforts  of  human  skill,  we  might 
in  the  space  of  twenty  leagues  bring  together  in  Syria  the 
vegetable  riches  of  the  most  distant  countries.  Besides 
wheat,  rye,  barley,  beans,  and  the  cotton-plant,  which  are 
cultivated  everywhere,  there  are  several  objects  of  utility 
or  pleasure,  peculiar  to  different  localities.  Palestine,  for 
example,  abounds  in  sesamum,  which  affords  oil ;  and  in 
dhoura,  similar  to  that  of  Egypt.  Maize  thrives  in  the  light 
soil  of  Balbec,  and  rice  is  cultivated  with  success  along  the 

*  Calmet’s  Dictionary,  vol.  iv.  p.  696. 


328  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 


marsh  of  Haoule.  Within  these  twenty-five  years  sugar- 
canes  have  been  introduced  into  the  gardens  of  Saida  and 
Beirout,  which  are  not  inferior  to  those  of  the  Delta.  Indigo 
grows  without  culture  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  and  only 
requires  a  little  care  to  secure  a  good  quality.  The  hills  of 
Latakie  produce  tobacco,  which  creates  a  commercial  inter¬ 
course  with  Damietta  and  Cairo.  This  crop  is  at  present 
cultivated  in  all  the  mountains.  The  white  mulberry  forms 
the  riches  of  the  Druses,  by  the  beautiful  silks  which  are 
obtained  from  it ;  and  the  vine,  raised  on  poles  or  creeping 
along  the  ground,  furnishes  red  and  white  wines  equal  to 
those  of  Bordeaux.  Jaffa  boasts  of  her  lemons  and  water¬ 
melons  ;  Gaza  possesses  both  the  dates  of  Mecca  and  the 
pomegranates  of  Algiers.  Tripoli  has  oranges  which  might 
vie  with  those  of  Malta ;  Beirout  has  figs  like  Marseilles, 
and  bananas  like  St.  Domingo.  Aleppo  is  unequalled  for 
pistachio-nuts ;  and  Damascus  possesses  all  the  fruits  of 
Europe ;  inasmuch  as  apples,  plums,  and  peaches,  grow 
with  equal  facility  on  her  rocky  soil.  Niebuhr  is  of  opi¬ 
nion  that  the  Arabian  coffee-shrub  might  be  cultivated  in 
Palestine.4* 

Th  ejig  -tree,  the  palm,  and  the  olive ,  are  characteristic  of 
the  Holy  Land,  and  therefore  deserve  our  more  particular 
attention.  In  regard  to  the  first,  the  earliest  fruit  produced, 
which  is  usually  ripe  in  June,  is  called  the  boccore ;  the 
later,  or  proper  fig,  being  rarely  fit  to  be  gathered  before 
the  month  of  August.  The  name  of  these  last  is  the  ker- 
mez,  or  kermouse.  They  constitute  the  article  which  passes 
through  the  hands  of  the  merchant,  after  being  either  pre¬ 
served  in  the  common  way  or  made  up  into  cakes.  They 
continue  a  long  time  on  the  tree  before  they  fall  off;  whereas 
the  boccore  drop  as  soon  as  they  are  ripe,  and  according  to 
the  beautiful  allusion  of  the  prophet  Nahum,  “  fall  into  the 
mouth  of  the  eater  upon  being  shaken.” 

The  palm  must  at  one  time  have  been  common  in  Pales¬ 
tine,  though  at  present  it  fails  to  attract  attention  either  on 
account  of  number  or  of  beauty.  In  several  coins  of  V  es- 
pasian,  as  well  as  of  his  son  Titus,  the  land  of  Judea  is 
typified  by  a  disconsolate  woman  sitting  under  one  of  these 
trees.  Jericho,  which  was  formerly  distinguished  as  the 


♦  Malte  Brun,  vol.  ii.  p.  130. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE.  329 

“city  of  palms,”  can  still  boast  a  few  of  them,  because, 
besides  the  advantage  of  a  sandy  soil  and  a  warm  climate, 
it  commands  a  plentiful  supply  of  water,  an  element  abso¬ 
lutely  indispensable  to  their  growth.  At  Jerusalem,  She- 
chem,  and  other  places  to  the  northward  of  the  capital,  not 
more  than  two  or  three  of  them  are  ever  seen  together; 
and  even  these,  as  their  fruit  rarely  comes  to  maturity,  are 
of  no  farther  service  than,  like  the  palm-tree  of  Deborah, 
to  shade  the  council  of  the  sheiks,  or  to  supply  the  branches, 
which,  as  in  ancient  days,  may  still  be  required  for  religious 
processions.* 

The  olive  no  longer  holds  the  place  which  it  once  occu¬ 
pied  in  the  estimation  of  the  inhabitants  of  Palestine.  The 
wretched  government  under  which  they  exist  has  rooted 
out  all  the  seeds  of  industry,  by  rendering  the  absence  of 
wealth  the  only  security  against  oppression.  But  in  those 
places  where  it  continues  to  be  cultivated,  it  affords  ample 
proof  to  establish  the  accuracy  of  the  inspired  writer,  who 
denominated  Palestine  a  land  of  oil-olive  and  honey. 

The  cedars  of  Libanus  still  maintain  their  ancient  repu¬ 
tation  for  beauty  and  stature  ;  while  they  are  diversified  by 
a  thousand  elegant  plants,  which  dispute  with  them  the  pos¬ 
session  of  the  lofty  summits  of  the  mountain.  Here  the 
astragalus  tragacanthoides  displays  its  clusters  of  purple 
flowers  ;  and  the  primrose,  the  amaryllis,  the  white  and  the 
orange  lily,  mingle  their  brilliant  hues  with  the  verdure  of 
the  birch-leaved  cherry.  Even  the  snow  of  the  highest 
peaks  is  skirted  by  shrubs  possessing  the  most  splendid 
colours.  The  coolness,  humidity,  and  good  quality  of  the 
soil  support  an  uninterrupted  vegetation  ;  and  the  bounties 
of  nature  in  those  elevated  regions  are  still  protected  by  the 
spirit  of  liberty. 

Hasselquist  is  of  opinion  that  the  wild-grapes  mentioned 
by  the  prophet  Isaiah  must  be  the  hoary  night-shade,  or 
solanum  incanum,  because  it  is  common  in  Egypt,  Palestine, 
and  Syria.  The  Arabs  call  it  wolf-grapes,  as,  from  its 
shrubby  stalk,  it  has  some  resemblance  to  a  vine.  But  the 
sacred  writer  could  not  have  found  a  weed  more  opposite  to 
the  vine  than  this,  or  more  suitable  to  the  purpose  which  he 
had  in  view,  for  it  is  extremely  pernicious  to  that  plant,  and 


*  Shaw’s  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  152. 
E  e  2 


330  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  PALESTINE. 

is  rooted  out  whenever  it  appears.  “  Wherefore,”  exclaims 
the  holy  seer,  “  when  I  looked  that  my  vineyard  should  bring 
forth  grapes,  brought  it  forth  poisonous  night-shade  1”* 

The  author  just  named,  describes  the  “balsam  of  Aaron” 
as  a  very  fine  oil,  which  emits  no  scent  or  smell,  and  is  very 
proper  for  preparing  odoriferous  ointments.  It  is  obtained 
from  a  tree  called  behen,  which  grows  in  Mount  Sinai  and 
Upper  Egypt,  and,  it  is  presumed,  in  certain  parts  of  the 
Holy  Land.  Travellers  assert  that  it  is  the  very  perfume 
with  which  the  ancient  high-priest  of  the  Jews,  with  whose 
name  it  is  connected,  was  wont  to  anoint  his  beard,  and 
which  the  Psalmist  extols  so  much  on  account  of  its  rich 
odour  and  mollifying  qualities, — the  emblem  of  domestic 
harmony  and  brotherly  love. 

There  still  exists  a  thorn  in  Palestine  known  among 
botanists  by  the  name  of  the  “  spina  Christi,”  or  thorn  of 
Christ,  and  supposed  to  be  the  shrub  which  afforded  the 
crown  worn  by  our  Saviour  before  his  crucifixion.  It  must 
have  been  very  fit  for  the  purpose,  for  it  has  many  small 
sharp  prickles,  well  adapted  to  give  pain  ;  and  as  the  leaves 
greatly  resemble  those  of  ivy,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the 
enemies  of  the  Messiah  chose  it  from  its  similarity  to  the 
plant  with  which  emperors  and  generals  were  accustomed 
to  be  crowned  ;  and  hence  that  there  might  be  calumny,  in¬ 
sult,  and  derision,  meditated  in  the  very  act  of  punishment.* 

*  Isaiah  v.  4.  f  Voyages  and  Travels  in  the  Levant,  p.  288. 


THE  END. 


VALUABLE  WORKS 

PUBLISHED  BY 

J.  &  J.  HARPER,  82  CLIFF-STREET,  NEW-YORK, 

And  for  Sale  by  the  principal  Booksellers  in  the  United  States. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWS.  By  the  Rev.  H.  H. 

Milman.  In  3  vols.  18 mo.  Illustrated  with  original 

Maps  and  Woodcuts. 

“  The  Editors  of  the  Family  Library  have  been  most  fortunate  in  en¬ 
gaging  on  this  work  the  pen  of  a  scholar,  both  classical  and  scriptural, 
and  so  elegant  and  powerful  a  writer  as  the  Poetry  Professor.  Few 
theological  works  of  this  order  have  appeared  either  in  ours  or  in  any 
other  language.  To  the  Christian  reader  of  every  age  and  sex — and  we 
may  add  of  every  sect — it  will  be  a  source  of  the  purest  delight,  instruc¬ 
tion,  and  comfort ;  and  of  the  infidels  who  open  it  merely  that  they  may 
not  remain  in  ignorance  of  a  work  placed  by  general  consent  in  the  rank 
of  an  English  classic,  is  there  not  every  reason  to  hope  that  many  will 
lay  it  down  in  a  far  different  mood?” — Blackwood’s  Magazine. 

“Though  the  subject  is  trite,  the  manner  of  treating  it  is  such  as  to 
command  our  deepest  attention.  While  the  work  has  truth  and  simplicity 
enough  to  fascinate  a  child,  it  is  written  with  a  masterliness  of  the  sub¬ 
ject  and  an  elegance  of  composition  that  will  please  the  most  refined 
and  fastidious  reader.” — E.  Saturday's  Post. 

“  The  narrative  of  the  various  and  highly  interesting  events  in  that 
period  flows  on  in  a  chaste  style;  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his  sub¬ 
ject  is  evident  in  every  page.  The  work  is  spirited,  well  arranged,  and 
full  of  information,  and  of  a  wise  and  well  cultivated  spirit.” — Athenaeum. 

“Professor  H.  H.  Milman  is  one  of  the  most  chaste  and  classical 
writers  of  the  age.  His  Bampton  Lectures  contain  some  of  the  most 
giowing  and  graphic  descriptions  which  we  ever  read.  The  History  of 
the  .lews  embraced  in  the  volumes  before  us,  has  already  passed  through 
three  editions  in  England,  and  is  highly  and  justly  commended  by  many 
of  the  most  respectable  periodicals.” — N.  Y.  Journal  of  Commerce. 

“It  is  written  in  a  very  interesting  manner — in  a  more  philosophical 
spirit,  and  with  more  depth  of  reflection,  than  is  generally  found  in  his¬ 
tories  of  this  nature.  It  is  not  wanting  in  historical  condensation,  and  the 
colouring  of  the  style  is  lively  and  picturesque.” — N.  Y  Evening  Post. 

“  The  style  in  which  it  is  written  is  remarkably  lucid  and  elegant ; 
attractive  by  its  general  smoothness  and  simplicity,  yet  animated  and 
forcible.  The  work  must  be  popular,  and  we  doubt  not  ranked  among 
rhe  classics  of  the  language.” — Baltimore  Republican. 

“  Mr.  Milman’s  work  is  calculated  to  interest  and  instruct  a  greater 
number  of  readers,  of  all  ages,  than  any  book  which  has  been  produced 
for  many  years.” — Philadelphia  Daily  Chronicle. 

“  This  History  of  the  Jews  is  the  best  we  have  ever  seen.” 

New-England  Palladium. 


[  i  1 


LIFE  OF  NAPOLEON  BUONAPARTE,  By  J.  G. 

Lockhart;  Esq,  With.  Copperplate  Engravings 

^  voI*«  18moi 

“  We  never  met  with  more  solid  information  compressed  within  so 
small  a  space  ;  and  yet  the  brevity  of  the  style  ni  ver  runs  into  obscurity. 
On  the  contrary,  we  should  be  much  at  a  loss  o  point  out  such  another 
specimen  of  narrative  clearness  in  the  whole  range  of  contemporary  lite¬ 
rature.  Two  volumes  so  rich  in  information  and  interest,  so  much  to  be 
devoured  by  youth,  and  so  worthy  to  be  consulted  by  the  maturest  reader, 
would  constitute  certainly  one  of  the  cheapest  of  all  possible  cheap  books. 
Of  a  work  already  so  widely  known  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  multiply 
specimens  in  these  pages.” — Blackwood's  Magazine. 

“  We  anticipate  a  p/odigious  circulation  for  this  attractive  work.  It  is 
drawn  up  with  consummate  ability.  Indeed,  we  have  seldom  perused  a 
,  work  more  uniformly  interesting  in  its  details.” — Sun. 

“  The  first  volumes  of  this  work  secured  for  it  the  attention  and  patron¬ 
age  of  the  public  ;  and  the  continued  ability  displayed  in  these  succeeding 
numbers  has  gained  it  an  introduction  into  most  of  the  ‘  family  libraries,’ 
not  only  in  England,  but  in  Europe.  Suiting  itself  to  the  hardship  of  the 
times,  this  work  is  published  in  a  form  and  at  a  price  which  render  it 
accessible  to  all  classes  of  the  reading  public.” — <S  Herald. 

“  After  the  merited  praise  that  has  already  been  given  to  this  work,  it 
cannot  be  supposed  that  we  have  any  thing  particularly  original  to  offer 
respecting  it.” — B.  Mirror. 

“  It  is,  unquestionably,  in  a  brief  and  tangible  form,  the  most  popular 
History  of  Napoleon  that  has  been  yet  produced.” — Atlas. 

“  This  is  a  much  better  book  than  any  other  in  English  on  the  same 
subject  ” — AthencBum. 


LIFE  OF  NELSON.  By  Ilolbert  Southey,  Esq.  With 
a  Portrait.  18mo. 

“  This  is  the  best  work  that  ever  came  from  the  pen  of  the  laureate, 
and  it  is  an  excellent  specimen  of  biography.” — New  England  Palladium. 

“  The  merits  of  this  work  are  so  well  known  that  it  is  altogether  un¬ 
necessary  to  recommend  it  to  our  readers  -  New-York  Evening  Post. 

“  The  illustrious  subject  of  this  volume,  and  the  reputation  of  Southey 
as  a  biographer,  will  be  a  sufficient  guarantee  for  the  interest  of  the 
work.” — New-  York  Constellation. 

“  Southey’s  fine  and  popular  biography  of  Nelson  was  verv  much 
wanted,  and  is  now  to  be  had  very  cheap,  in  a  very  neat  and  conveuienl 
form.” — New-York  Commercial  Advertiser. 

“  We  take  much  pleasure  in  recommending  this  Library  to  the  public, 
because  we  really  consider  it  as  useful  and  as  deserving  of  encourage¬ 
ment  as  any  work  that  has  ever  been  in  the  American  press.” — New- 
York  Courier  k  Enquirer. 

“  It  is  well  written ;  and  consists  of  many  narratives  of  intense  interest, 
and  highly  wrought  description.” — New-York  Mercantile  Advertiser. 

‘j  It  is  a  faithful  narrative  of  the  hero  of  Trafalgar,  and  paints  his 
character  with  much  force,  and  in  its  true  colouring.  We  consider  this 
number  a  valuable  gem  in  the  Family  Library.” — Truth  Teller. 

“  The  publishers  intend  to  incorporate  some  works  of  an  American 
character,  which  will  greatly  augment  '.he  value  of  their  edition  of  the 
Library.  This  last  improvement  is  all  that  is  wanting  to  make  this  work 
one  of  the  most  valuable  miscellaneous  publications  that  ever  issued  from 
the  press.” — New-York  American. 

— 


LIFE  OF  ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT.  By  Rev 
J*  Williams*  Witli  a  Map*  18mo* 

“The  style  is  good,  and  the  narrative  well  conducted.  A  modern 
history  of  this  famous  warrior  cannot  fail  to  be  entertaining.” — New- 
York  Daily  Advertiser. 

“  The  work  is  instructing,  and  inherits  a  greater  share  of  interest  from 
the  fact,  that  the  history  of  this  ancient  Napoleon  is  disintegrated  from 
the  mass  of  general  history,  and  presented  by  itself.  The  style  is  lucid 
and  well  studied.” — New-York  Journal  of  Commerce. 

“  The  fourth  work  included  in  this  collection  is  a  life  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  written  by  the  Rev.  John  Williams,  (of  Baloil  College,  Oxford,) 
the  well-known  founder  and  head  of  the  New  Edinburgh  Academy,  and 
written  in  a  manner  worthy  of  his  high  scholastic  reputation.  He  has 
displayed  felicitously  in  this  volume  both  the  natural  and  acquired  en¬ 
dowments  of  his  mind — filled  a  blank  in  the  historical  library,  furnished 
the  schoolmaster,  and  also  the  schoolboy,  whether  at  home  or  abroad, 
with  a  capital  manual — and  there  will  never  be,  in  as  far  as  we  can  see, 
the  smallest  occasion  for  writing  this  story  over  again.” — Blackwood. 

“  This  constitutes  the  seventh  volume  of  the  Family  Library.  It  is 
incomparably  the  best  life — the  most  carefbl  and  correct  estimate  of 
Alexander’s  achievements  we  have.” — Monthly  Magazine. 

“rrhis  is  a  much  better  book  than  any  other  in  English  on  the  same 
subject.” — A  themcBum. 

“  It  is  ably  and  eloquently  written.” — B.  Journal. 

“We  have  repeatedly  borne  testimony  to  the  utility  of  this  Library.  It  is 
one  of  the  best  that  has  ever  been  issued  from  the  American  press,  and 
should  be  in  the  library  of  every  family  desirous  of  treasuring  up  useful 
knowledge.” — Boston  Statesm  an. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  INSECTS.  Illustrated  l>y 
numerous  Engravings*  18mo* 

“  Of  all  studies,  perhaps  there  is  none  more  captivating  than  that  of 
animated  nature . The  present  volume  is  peculiarly  useful  and  agree¬ 

able.” — New-  York  Mirror. 

“The  subject  is  full  of  interest  and  satisfaction,  and  is  adapted  to  all 
classes  of  readers.” — Albany  Evening  Journal. 

“  The  information  is  minute,  well  arranged,  and  clearly  imparted,  and 
cannot  but  recommend,  the  work  to  general  perusal  in  families.” — New- 
York  Standard. 

“  It  is  the  duty  of  every  person  having  a  family  to  put  this  excellent 
Library  into  the  hands  of  his  children.” — N.  V.  Mercantile  Advertiser. 

“  It  seems  to  us,  that  it  will  prove  at  once  agreeable  and  instructive  to 
persons  of  all  classes,  and  occupy  an  appropriate  place  in  the  Family 
Library.” — N.  Y.  Daily  Advertiser. 

“  The  study  of  animated  nature,  in  itself  pleasing,  is  absolutely  neces¬ 
sary  as  a  branch  of  useful  knowledge.  In  the  present  work  the  subject 
is  treated  with  peculiar  adroitness,  and  contains  only  such  details  as 
render  the  study  of  Natural  History  amusing,  anil  at  the  same  time  highly 
instructive.  Thi3  volume,  we  should  conceive,  would  be  highly  advanta¬ 
geous  for  the  use  of  schools ;  and  we  recommend  its  being  placed  in  every 
one’s  library,  as  a  work  full  of  useful  information.” — Truth  Teller. 

“The  History  of  Insects  is  a  curious  one.  Many  of  the  details  are  g 
wonderful  and  full  of  interest.” — Philadelphia  Inquirer. 

“  This  work  must  prove  useful  and  interesting  to  all  classes.” 

Albany  Daily  Advertiser.  | 


[3] 


LIFE  OF  LORD  BYRON.  By  John  Galt,  Esq.  18mo. 

“  This  volume  has  great  merit,  and  is  a  valuable  acquisition  to  litera¬ 
ture.” — New-York  Spectator. 

“  The  sprightly  pen  df  the  author  has  communicated  uncommon  inter¬ 
est  to  this  work,  and  he  appears  to  have  done  perfect  justice  to  its  inspired 
subject.” — Albany  Daily  Advertiser. 

“  The  subject  is  one  of  very  great  interest,  which  is  of  course  enhanced 
by  the  reputation  of  the  writer.” — Baltimore  Republican. 

“  Mr.  Galt  is  one  of  the  most  fascinating  writers  of  the  age.” — Journal 
of  Commerce. 

“  The  work  is  well  written,  and  gives  many  particulars  in  the  career 
of  the  gifted  bard  which  we  never  before  met  with  in  print.” — Pennsyl¬ 
vania  Inquirer. 

“  It  is  the  work  of  one  of  the  most  sprightly  and  popular  writers  of  the 
day,  and  has  the  advantage  of  being  comprised  in  the  moderate  compass 
of  a  single  volume.” — Evening  Post. 

“  Mr.  Galt  is  in  the  habit  of  eliciting  the  truth  from  whatever  he  under¬ 
takes  to  consider  or  develop.  So  much  of  the  exact  truth,  in  respect  to 
Byron,  was  never  before  discovered,  collected,  and  set  down,  as  we  find 
in  this  very  interesting  volume.” — C.  Journal. 

“  Galt  is  a  powerful  writer.  His  critical  abilities  and  the  rare  oppor¬ 
tunity  which  he  enjoyed  of  reading  the  heart-secrets  of  the  mysterious 
poet  give  an  undoubted  value  to  this  history.” — New-York  Cabinet. 

“  This  volume  contains,  in  a  concise  but  interesting  form,  a  Memoir  of 
the  Life  and  Literary  Labours  of  Lord  Byron,  by  Mr.  Galt ;  whose  classic 
pen  imparts  interest  and  value  to  every  thing  it  touches.” — Albany  Eve¬ 
ning  Journal. 

"  Mr.  Galt  is  well  and  favourably  known  as  a  writer.” — Mercantile 
Advertiser. 


LIFE  OF  MOHAMMED,  Founder  of  the  Religion  of 

Islam  and  of  the  Empire  of  the  Saracens.  By  the 

Rev.  George  Bnsh,  M.  A.  With  a  plate.  18mo. 

“  It  seems  to  us  to  be  a  good  narrative  of  the  life  of  the  great  Arabian 
impostor,  written  in  a  fine  style.  .  .  .  We  are  not  aware  that  any  other 
work  of  the  same  size  contains  the  same  quantity  of  information  relative 
to  the  matters  treated  of,  in  as  agreeable  a  form.” — Com.  Advertiser. 

“  We  have  so  often  recommended  this  enterprising  and  useful  publica¬ 
tion  (the  Family  Library),  that  we  can  here  only  add,  that  each  succes- 
sivenumber  appears  to  confirm  its  merited  popularity.” — N.  Y.  American. 

“  This  volume  embraces  a  portion  of  history  extremely  interesting  to 
the  reuaer ;  ana  tne  work  well  deserves  a  place  among  the  others  com¬ 
posing  the  valuable  series  of  the  Family  Library.”—  Evening  Journal. 

“  The  Family  Library  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  person.  Thus 
far  it  has  treated  of  subjects  interesting  to  all,  condensed  in  a  perspicu 
ous  and  agreeable  style.” — Courier  Sc  Enquirer. 

“  Mr.  Bush  is  a  scholar  of  extensive  acquirements,  and  well  fitted  foi 
the  task  which  he  has  undertaken  in  this  volume.” — N.  Y.  Observ  er. 

“  In  the  collection  of  materials,  the  author  appears  to  have  neglected 
no  source  from  which  valuable  aid  was  to  be  expected.” — Philadelphia 
Daily  Chronicle. 

“  The  history  of  the  eminent  impostor  cannot  but  be  a  work  of  interest 
to  every  enlightened  mind.” — Penn.  Inquirer. 

“  We  have  found  much  to  admire  and  commend  in  every  preceding 
number  of  the  Family  Library  ;  but  we  believe  the  present  will  be  allowed 
the  place  of  honour.”—  U.  S.  Gazette. 


DEMONOLOGY  AND  WITCHCRAFT.  By  Walter 
Scott,  Bart.  ISmo.  With,  a  plate. 

“The  work  is  curious,  interesting,  and  instructive.” — Inquirer. 

“  This  volume  is  most  interesting,  and  will  be  read  with  great  pleasure 
by  almost  every  class  of  readers.” — U.  S.  Gazette. 

“It  would  be  difficult  to  select  a  more  interesting  subject  for  the  pen 
of  a  man  of  genius  than  that  of  popular  superstitions.  To  say  that  Scott 
has  made  more  of  it  than  any  other  man  could  have  done,  is  only  to  add 
another  tribute  to  his  acknowledged  pre-eminence.” — Boston  Statesman. 

“  Tne  subject  is  most  alluring,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  handled 
is  magical.” — Athenaeum. 

“  One  of  the  most  useful,  and  certainly  one  of  the  most  amusing,  in  the 
Family  Library.” — Courier. 

“The  subject  is  one  in  which  Sir  Walter  is  perfectly  at  home,  and  is 
handled  with  that  tact  and  ability  so  peculiarly  his  own.” — Globe. 

“  We  must  leave  this  delightful  volume  to  the  delightful  admiration 
which  it  will  obtain,  and  to  that  consequent  ‘  parlour  window’  immor¬ 
tality  which  it  will  command  more  surely  and  deservedly  than  any  other 
of  the  writer’s  works.” — C.  Journal. 

“All  the  volumes  of  this  interesting  and  useful  Library  should  be  in 
the  hands  of  our  youth,  as  they  will  gain  much  knowledge  and  instruc¬ 
tion  from  their  perusal.  They  peculiarly  fit  the  mind  for  a  more  exten¬ 
sive  entry  on  the  subjects  of  which  they  treat,  at  a  more  mature  period 
of  life.” — N.  Y.  Evening  Journal. 

“  This  work  will  be  sought  for  with  avidity.” — N.  Y.  Standard. 

“  It  is  a  delightful  publication.” — Truth  Teller. 

“  It  hazards  little  to  predict  that  this  volume  will  prove  the  most  popu¬ 
lar  that  has  yet  been  put  forth  for  the  puhlic  amusement  and  instruction.” 

Spectator. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE.  By  Rev.  G.  R.  Gleig. 

In  53  vols.  18mo.  Witli  a  Map. 

“The  style  of  it  is  surpassed  by  no  work  with  which  we  are  ac¬ 
quainted  :  it  is  highly  finished,  perspicuous  and  comprehensive.  His¬ 
torical  and  biographical  facts  are  well  stated ;  the  prominent  difficulties  ; 
that  present  themselves  to  the  mind  of  an  intelligent  or  skeptical  reader 
of  the  Bible,  are  boldly  exhibited  and  ably  explained  ;  the  most  plausible 
objections  advanced  by  modern  infidels  are  answered  in  a  very  philo¬ 
sophical,  learned,  and  conclusive  manner.  The  author  has  imbodied  in 
it  a  vast  deal  of  learning  and  research ;  has  discovered  superior  ingenuity 
and  force  of  intellect,  and  furnished,  withal,  a  specimen  of  fine  writing, 
which  must  secure  a  most  favourable  reception,  as  well  among  persons 
of  taste,  as  those  who  are  fond  of  Biblical  studies.  A  valuable  introduc¬ 
tion  is  prefixed  to  the  work,  showing  the  divine  authority  and  authen¬ 
ticity  of  the  Sacred  Volume.” — Albany  Telegraph  <$-  Register. 

“  Mr.  Gleig’s  plan  is  very  comprehensive,  and,  judging  from  the  speci¬ 
men  before  us,  we  are  persuaded  that  it  will  prove  fully  satisfactory 
to  a  Christian  people.  In  his  inquiries  and  criticisms,  as  well  as  in 
his  suggestions  and  speculations,  Mr.  Gleig  is  free  and  independent. 
But  he  never  forgets  that  it  is  the  Bible,  the  Book  of  Heaven,  he  has 
undertaken  to  elucidate.” — New  Monthly  Magazine. 

“The  Rev.  author  is  one  of  the  very  best  writers  of  the  day.  He  has 
vixpended  a  great  deal  of  labour  and  research  upon  his  subject,  and  has 
succeeded  in  giving  a  connected,  faithful,  and  succinct  outline  of  the 
contents  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  and  in  vindicating  its  statements  from 
the  objections  of  skepticism  and  false  philosophy.” — Anwican  Traveller . 


[5] 


POLAR  SEAS  AND  REGIONS.  By  Professors  Leslie 

and  Jameson  and  Hugh.  Murrayj  Esq.  18mo.  With 

Maps  and  Engravings. 

“  The  style  is  familiar,  concise,  and  comprehensive.  The  authors  are 
excellent  models  for  modern  historians.” — Albany  Evening  Journal. 

“  A  work  from  such  hands  on  such  a  subject  cannot  fail  to  be  both 
interesting  and  valuable.” — N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

“  The  three  eminent  men  who  have  produced  this  compilation  have 
rendered  a  great  service  to  the  cause  of  philosophy  and  knowledge.” — 
New-  York  Commercial  Advertiser. 

“  The  writers  are  gentlemen  of  flrst-rate  standing  in  the  scientific  world, 
and  the  subject  is  one  to  which  every  curious  mind  is  attached  by  a  sort 
of  involuntary  impulse.” — N.  Y.  Journal  of  Commerce. 

“  It  is  well  calculated  for  seamen  and  landsmen,  the  learned  and  unin¬ 
formed,  and  for  both  sexes  of  every  age.” — American  'Traveller. 

“  This  volume  is  replete  with  interest ;  it  exhibits  a  succinct,  yet  com¬ 
plete  and  connected  view  of  the  successive  voyages  made  to  the  Arctic 
Regions.” — Monthly  Repository. 

“  This  volume  presents  an  exceedingly  entertaining  and  instructive  view 
of  all  that  is  known  of  the  Polar  Seas  and  Regions.” — Philadel.  Chronicle. 

“  The  volume  now  before  us  not  only  enters  into  an  account  of  the 
climate,  the  animal  and  vegetable  productions,  the  geology  of  the  Polar 
Regions,  and  the  details  of  the  whale  fishery ;  but  presents  the  public 
with  highly  interesting  accounts  of  the  ancient  voyages  to  the  North, 
the  early  as  well  as  the  more  recent  voyages  in  search  of  the  North-East 
and  North-West  Passages,  together  with  the  late  voyages  directly  towards 
the  North  Pole.” — Nfw  Monthly  Magazine. 

“We  recommend  this  entertaining  volume.” — Truth  Teller. 

“  We  are  of  opinion  that  this  will  prove  one  of  the  most  popular  num¬ 
bers  of  this  justly  popular  work.” — Courier  Enquirer. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  GEORGE  IV.  Witli  Anec¬ 
dotes  of  Distinguished  Persons.  By  the  Rev.  George 

Croly.  With  a  Portrait.  18mo. 

“  Mr.  Croly  has  acquitted  himself  very  handsomely.  His  subject  is 
one  of  much  interest,  and  he  has  treated  it  with  unusual  impartiality. 
The  author’s  style  is  chaste,  classical,  and  beautiful,  and  it  may  be  taken 
as  a  model  of  fine  writing.  It  is  worthy  of  his  genius  and  his  educa¬ 
tion.” — Mercantile  Advertiser. 

“  This  number  is  from  the  eloquent  and  powerful  pen  of  the  Rev.  George 
Croly.  It  promises  much  entertainment  and  instruction.  The  name  of 
the  writer  is  a  sufficient  passport  to  the  public  attention.” — Com.  Adv. 

“  This  is  an  interesting  volume,  blending  most  beautifully  instruction 
with  amusement.” — Long  Island  Patriot. 

“  Mr.  Croly  is  a  man  of  talent ,  and  can  write  well.  There  is  proof  of 
this  in  the  volume  before  us.  The  reflections  that  naturally  arise  out 
of  the  subject  are  philosophical  and  just ;  and  the  sketches  of  character 
of  the  leading  men  and  ministers  are  drawn  with  a  bold  and  vigorous 
hand.”— TAe  Athenaeum. 

“The  portraits  of  the  Prince’s  friends  are  in  the  best  style,  and 
sketched  with  impartial  freedom.  Fox,  Burke,  Sheridan,  Erskine,  Cur¬ 
ran  were  of  the  splendid  galaxy,  and  the  characteristics  of  each  are  well 
preserved  in  Mr.  Croly’s  pages.” — Gentleman's  Magazine. 

“  Mr.  Croly  is  not  merely  a  fine  writer,  but  a  very  powerful  one.  His 
outline  is  as  bold  and  broad  as  his  colours  are  glowing.  He  writes  like 
a  man  well  acquainted  with  his  subject.” — Eclectic  Revieiv. 

— — —  — —  ■  ——————— 

[6] 


DISCOVERY  AND  ADVENTURE  IN  AFRICA.  By 

Professor  Jameson,  James  Wilson,  Esq.,  and  Hugh 

Murray,  Esq.  Witli  a  map  and  engravings.  18mo. 

“The  names  of  the  distinguished  individuals  by  whom  the  volume  has 
been  prepared,  offer  a  sufficient  pledge  for  the  faithful  and  accomplished 
execution  of  the  work ;  and  the  field  of  their  labours  is  one  of  almost  un¬ 
rivalled  attraction  for  whatever  is  new,  strange,  or  mysterious  in  histo¬ 
rical  narrative,  or  bold  and  perilous  in  adventurous  exploit.” — The  Atlas. 

“  From  what  we  have  read,  we  think  it  will  add  another  very  interest¬ 
ing  and  useful  volume  to  the  Family  Library.  This  work  we  believe 
will  be  interesting  to  every  class  of  readers,  especially  to  the  philanthro¬ 
pist  and  Christian.” — N.  Y.  Evangelist. 

“  It  embraces  the  whole  field  of  modem  travels  in  Africa,  and,  like 
‘Polar  Seas  and  Regions,’  is  deserving  the  attention  of  every  one  who 
pretends  to  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  science  and  discovery.” — Jour, 
of  Commerce. 

“  In  this  volume  is  comprised  much  usefltl  and  entertaining  knowledge 
concerning  a  country  which  has  long  been  the  subject  of  vague  report 
and  conjecture ;  the  theatre  of  visionary  monsters,  and  the  scene  of  the 
most  extravagant  romance.” — N.  Y.  Standard. 

“  The  names  of  the  authors  will  satisfy  the  public  that  this  is  a  work 
which  will  command  their  admiration  and  credence.  It  is  a  sterling 
addition  to  that  most  excellent  series,  the  Family  Library.” — Albany 
Daily  Advertiser. 

“In  the  present  work  we  have  a  perfect  history  of  the  discoveries 
which  have  been  attempted,  from  the  time  of  Herodotus  until  the  final 
attempt  of  Rend  Caille ;  it  is  replete  with  interest.” — N.  Y.  Courier  d- 
Enquirer. 


DIVES  OF  EMINENT  PAINTERS  AND  SCULP¬ 
TORS.  By  Allan  C unnlngham,  Esq.  In  3  vols. 

18mo.  With  Portraits. 

“  We  advise  all  those  of  our  readers  who  have  any  respect  for  our  re¬ 
commendation,  to  read  these  three  volumes  from  beginning  to  end  ;  and  we 
are  confident  of  the  thanks  of  such  as  shall  he  induced  by  our  advice  t# 
procure  for  themselves  so  great  an  enjoyment.” — N.  Y.  Mirror. 

“  We  would  recommend  these  volumes  as  being  replete  with  interest¬ 
ing  incident  and  valuable  historical  matter.  They  are  worthy  of  a  promi¬ 
nent  place  in  the  library  of  the  scholar,  and  are  of  that  description  of 
works  which  may  be  placed  in  the*  hands  of  the  younger  branches  of 
society,  with  the  assurance  that  they  will  impart  both  moral  and  intel¬ 
lectual  improvement.” — Boston  Masonic  Mirror. 

“  The  lives  of  distinguished  artists,  written  by  so  popular  an  author, 
can  hardly  fail  of  being  duly  appreciated  by  the  reading  community.” — 
N.  Y.  Constellation. 

“  This  is  one  of  the  best  written  and  most  instructive  books  of  the 
series  to  which  it  belongs.” — N.  Y.  American. 

“The  whole  narrative  is  of  a  lively  and  alluring  kind,  flowing  in  its 
language,  and  enriched  with  ceaseless  anecdote.” — N.  Y.  Atlas. 

“  The  lives  of  Hogarth,  &c.  furnish  a  fund  of  entertaining  and  charac¬ 
teristic  aneedote,  of  which  the  author  has  known  how  to  avail  himself 
with  skill.” — N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

“So  much  as  an  accomplished  author,  an  admirable  field  of  exertion, 
and  a  beautilhl  typography,  can  do  or  promise  for  a  work,  so  much  we 
can  safely  accredit  to  the  volumes  before  us.” — Journal  of  Commerce. 

11  "  r  —  -» 

l  '  i 


HISTORY  OF  CHIVALRY  AMD  THE  CRUSADES. 

By  G-.  F.  R.  James,  Esq.  Witli  an  Engraving. 

18  mo. 

“  The  present  volume  may  safely  be  pronounced  an  ornament  to  the 
literature  of  the  day,  and  Mr.  James  be  esteemed  a  writer  of  great  clear¬ 
ness  and  strength.” — N.  Y.  Standard. 

“  The  author  of  this  work  has  done  the  public  a  service,  which  we  think 
will  be  duly  appreciated.” — Christian  Herald. 

“The  period  of  the  world  to  which  this  history  relates  is  one  most 
interesting  to  readers  generally.” — N.  Y.  Mercantile  Advertiser. 

“A  more  interesting,  instructive,  and  amusing  volume  has  not  been 
laid  upon  our  table  for  many  a  day.” — Boston  Statesman. 

“  Mr.  James  is  well  known  as  an  agreeable  writer ;  and  the  subjects 
of  this  volume  are  such  as  can  scarcely  fail  to  prove  both  amusing  and 
interesting.” — N.  Y.  Daily  Advertiser. 

“  The  execution  of  this  work  is,  like  the  rest  of  the  Family  Library, 
elegant.  The  subject  is  of  no  little  interest ;  and  those  who  have  read 
‘  Richelieu’  and  *•  Darnley’  will  be  prepared  to  think  favourably  of  any 
production  from  the  same  pen.” — Constellation. 

“  The  admirers  of  Mr  James’s  peculiar  style  of  composition  as  exhibitec 
in  his  powerful  productions  of  ‘Darnley,’  ‘  Richelieu,’  ‘  De  L’Orme,’  &c. 
have  now  an  opportunity  to  witness  his  equally  successful  efforts  in 
another  department,  where  all  classes  of  readers  may  unite  in  commend¬ 
ing  the  subject,  the  treatise,  and  the  author.” — American  Traveller. 

“  The  historical  details  embraced  in  this  volume  are  extremely  curious 
and  amusing ;  and  the  accounts  of  ancient  customs  pertaining  to  the  vari¬ 
ous  orders  of  knighthood  engaged  in  the  holy  wars,  furnish  much  pleasant 
reading,  as  well  as  food  for  contemplation  on  the  obsolete  follies  of  man¬ 
kind.” — N.  Y.  Evening  Journal. 


LIFE  OF  MARY,  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS.  By  H.  O. 

Bell,  Esq.  In  3  vols.  ISmo.  With,  a  Portrait. 

“  It  is  decidedly  the  most  interesting  account  we  have  ever  seen  of  that 
lovely  and  unfortunate  being.  We  have  always  felt  that  Mary  was  inno¬ 
cent  of  the  great  crimes  charged  against  her  by  her  furious  and  deadly 
enemies ;  but  our  understanding  was  never  before  convinced.  It  was 
with  a  feeling  of  eager  joy,  that  we,  for  the  first  time  in  our  lives,  admit¬ 
ted  the  full  conviction  of  her  innocence.  The  book  is  written  with  much 
candour.” — Massachusetts  Journal. 

“  We  find  it  imbued  with  all  the  interest  of  a  romance,  without  de¬ 
stroying  the  authenticity  of  the  history.  Mary  was  indeed  an  attractive 
subject  for  the  pen  of  a  lively  and  gallant  writer.  In  such  hands,  her 
youth,  her  beauty,  her  station,  and  her  misfortunes  must  have  famished 
admirable  themes  on  which  to  descant  and  wake  up  the  sympathies  of  the 
reader.” — Pennsylvania  Inquirer. 

“The  life  of  the  unfortunate  queen  is  a  subject  of  strong  interest.” _ 

Constellation. 

“  The  style  of  the  author  is  succinct  and  clear,  and  is  a  good  specimen 
of  historic  composition.” — Standard. 

“  The  reader  will  be  pleased  to  learn  that  the  life  of  Mary  has  been 
written  anew,  by  one  who  appears,  both  in  temper  and  taient,  extremely 
well  qualified  for  the  task.” — N.  Y.  Atlas. 

“  We  have  heretofore  made  extracts  from  this  work,  which  must  have 
given  our  readers  a  favourable  opinion  of  the  merits  of  the  whole.  We 
have  no  difficulty  in  recommending  a  subject  so  interesting  to  the  public.” 
— Albion. 


ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  EGYPT.  By  the  Rev. 

M.  Russelly  LL.D.  With  a  Map  and  Engravings. 

18mo. 

“  It  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  a  volume  of  more  various  interest  than 
this.” — Baltimore  American. 

“  A  work  that  cannot  be  too  warmly  commended  to  the  reading  pub¬ 
lic.” — Providence  American. 

“  All  that  is  known  of  Egypt  is  condensed  into  this  history ;  and  the 
readers  of  it  will  find  themselves  well  repaid  for  their  labour  and  money.” 
— New- Haven  Advertiser. 

“  This  volume  is  the  most  interesting ,  as  well  as  the  most  valuable,  of 
the  numbers  yet  published.” — Long  Island  Star. 

“  This  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  the  series  of  the  Family  Library.” 
— Badger's  Weekly  Messenger. 

“  The  information  respecting  the  present  state  of  this  interesting  coun¬ 
try  will  be  found  peculiarly  valuable.” — New-York  Mirror. 

“  The  work  is  written  in  a  very  happy  style,  and  presents  a  mass  of 
knowledge  of  the  most  useful  and  instructive  character,  collected  together 
by  great  industry  and  research.” — Baltimore  Republican. 

“  We  think  the  writer  has  performed  his  task  with  a  singular  degree  of 
ability  and  clearness.” — Tribune. 

“  This  is  a  volume  of  great  interest.” — New-York  Standard. 

“An  account  of  this  ancient  kingdom,  connected  as  it  is  with  events  of 
the  greatest  importance  both  in  sacred  and  profane  history,  cannot  fail  to 
be  interesting  to  every  person  who  has  a  taste  for  this  species  of  know¬ 
ledge.” — New-York  Daily  Advertiser. 

“  This  work  is  fully  equal  to  any  that  have  appeared  in  the  Family  Li¬ 
brary,  and  that  is  one  of  the  best  of  comuliments  which  can  be  paid  it.” — 
Albany  Evening  Journal. 


HISTORY  OF  POLAND,  from  tlie  earliest  Period  to 

the  present  Time.  By  James  Fletcher,  Esq.  With 

a  Portrait  of  Kosciusko.  18mo. 

“  This  work  recommends  itself  to  public  notice  by  its  clear,  concise,  and 
impartial  history  of  a  country  and  a  people  for  whom  the  feelings  of  every 
lover  of  freedom  are  now  deeply  interested.” — N.  Y.  Atlas. 

“Of  the  writer’s  fairness  and  research  we  have  a  very  good  opinion; 
and  his  book  is  just  the  thing  that  is  wanted  at  the  present  moment.” — 
New-York  American. 

“  A  more  acceptable  volume  than  this  could  not  be  presented  to  the 
public.” — Courier  Enquirer. 

“  A  work  of  great  interest.” — Albion. 

“  No  work  has  for  a  long  period  been  published  here  so  deserving  of 
praise  and  so  replete  with  interest.” — American  Traveller. 

“  The  history  is  well  written,  and  is  presented  in  a  convenient  and  suc- 
Icinct  form.” — New-York  Standard. 

I  “  The  present  volume  will  prove,  we  think,  highly  acceptable  to  the 
’public.” — Evening  Post. 

J  “  It  will  require  no  recommendations  to  induce  the  reading  community 
[to  possess  themselves  at  once  of  this  valuable  and  authentic  work.” — 
New-York  Evening  Journal. 

“  It  will  be  found  an  exceedingly  interesting  work.” — Constellation. 

“  It  treats  of  a  country  and  a  people  that  attract  at  this  moment  the 
attention  of  the  whole  world  ;  and  here  there  is  not  an  individual  who  is 
not  interested  in  t l.  struggle  which  the  brave  Poles  are  now  engaged  in 
for  liberty  and  home.  — Mercantile  Advertiser. 

— —  ‘  — 


NEW  WORKS, 

Recently  published  by  J.  &  J.  Harper,  New-York. 


Gibbon’s  Rome  (fine) . 4v.  8vo. 

Robertson’s  Works . 3  v.  8vo. 

History  of  Modern  Europe,  3  v.  8vo. 
Life  of  Byron,  by  Moore.  .2v.  8vo. 
Cooper’s  Surg.  Dictionary,  2v.  8vo. 
Hooper’s  Med.  Dictionary,  2  v.  8vo. 
Wesley’s  Works  and  Sermons  8vo. 

Davies’s  Sermons . 3  v.  8vo. 

Rev.  Robt.  Hall’s  Works,  3  v.  8vo. 


Good’s  Study  of  Medicine,  5  v.  8vo. 

Good’s  Book  of  Nature . 8vo. 

Keith  on  Prophecy . 12mo. 

Crabb’s  English  Synonymes.  .8vo. 

Brown’s  Bible  Dictionary - 8vo. 

Brown’s  Concordance . 32mo. 

Davies’s  Surveying . 8vo. 

Gibson’s  Surveying . 8vo. 

Letters  from  the  rEgean . 8vo. 

Dibdin’s  Reminiscences . 8vo. 

Life  of  Dr.  Clarke . 8vo. 

Neele’s  Life  and  Remains  . . .  .8vo. 


Moore’sLife  of  Fitzgerald  2  v.  12mo. 
French  Revolution,  1830.  ..12mo. 
France,  by  Lady  Morgan.  2  v.  12mo. 
Modern  American  Cookery,  16mo 


Housekeeper’s  Manual . 12mo. 

Domestic  Duties . 12mo. 

Mathematical  Tables . 12mo. 

Lives  of  Signers  of  Dec.  Ind.  12mo, 

Brooks’s  Roems . 12mo. 

Miller’s  Greece . 12mo. 

Schoberl’s  Christianity . 12mo. 

Art  of  Invigorating  Life  ....  18mo 

Smart’s  Horace . 2  vols.  18mo. 

The  Northern  Traveller  ....  18mo. 

Xenophon . 2v.  18mo. 

Demosthenes . 2  v.  18mo. 

Sallust . 18mo. 

Massinger’s  Plays . 3  v.  18mo. 

Ford’s  Plays . 2v.  18mo. 


For  FAMILY  LIBRARY,  see  Cat¬ 
alogue  of  “  Valuable  Works.” 


Pelham . 2v.  I2mo. 

The  Disowned . 2v.  12mo. 

Devereux . 2v.  12mo. 

Paul  Clifford . 2v.  12mo. 

Falkland . 12mo. 

Siamese  Twins . 12mo. 

Dutchman’s  Fireside..  .2  v.  12mo. 

Cyril  Thornton . 2  v.  12mo. 

The  Young  Duke . 2  v.  12mo. 

Anastasius . 2  v.  l2mo. 

Caleb  Williams . 2  v.  12mo. 

Philip  Augustus . 2  v.  12rno. 

The  Club-Book . »>..2v.  12mo. 

De  Vere  ........ ..Jr. .  .2  v.  12mo. 

The  Smuggler . 2  v.  12mo. 

Evelina . 2  v.  12mo. 

Seaward’s  Narrative  ..  -3v.  l2mo. 
Jacqueline  of  Holland  .  .2  v.  12mo. 

lloxobel . 3  v.  13mo. 

Haverhill . 2  v.  1 2mo. 

Incognito . 2  v.  12mo. 

The  Talba . 2  v.  12mo. 

De  L’Orme . 2  v.  12mo. 

Waverley . 2  v.  12mo. 

Walter  Colyton . 2  v.  12mo. 

Cloudesley . 2  v.  12mo 

The  Lost  Heir  . . 2  v.  12mo. 

Stories  of  a  Bride . 2  v.  I2mo. 

The  English  at  Home  .  .2  v.  12mo. 

Coming  Out,  &c . 2v.  12mo. 

Southennan . 2v.  12mo. 

ITajji  Baba . 2v.  12mo. 

De  Lisle.. T . 2v.  12mo. 

Traits  of  Travel . 2  v.  12mo. 


The  New  Forest . 2v.  12mo. 

Heiress  of  Bruges . 2v.  12mo. 

The  Rivals . 2  v.  12mo. 

Romances  of  Real  Life,  2  v.  12mo. 
Rom.  of  History,  Spain. 2v.  12mo. 
Rom.  of  History,  France  2v.  12mo. 

Hungarian  Tales . 2  v.  12mo 

Contrast . 2v.  12mo. 

Separation . 2v.  12ino. 

Private  Life . 2v.  12mo. 

Darnley . 2  v.  I2mo. 

Lawrie  Todd . 2v.  ]2mo. 

Beatrice  . 2v.  12mo. 

Yesterday  in  Ireland - 2v.  12mo. 

Tales  of  the  West . 2  v.  12mo. 

St.  Valentine’s  Day,  &c.  2  v.  12mo. 

Waldegrave . 2  v.  12mo. 

Adventures  of  a  Page  .  2  v.  12mo. 
ltybrent  De  Cruce  ....  2  v.  12tno. 
The  School  of  Fashion,  2  v.  12ino 

Stratton  Hill . 2v.  12mo. 

Almack’s  Revisited . 2v.  12rno. 

Campaigns  of  a  Cornet,  2  v.  12mo. 
Tales  of  Military  Life  .  .2  v.  12mo. 

Foscarini . 2v.  12mo. 

Stories  of  Waterloo . 2  v.  12mo. 

The  Country  Curate - 2v.  12mo. 

Maxwell . 2v.  12mo 

The  Oxonians . 2  v.  12 mo. 

The  Denounced. . . 2  v.  12mo. 

Sketches  of  Irish  Character. .  12mo. 

Leggett’s  Tales,  <fec . 12mo. 

Posthumous  Papers . 12mo. 

Diary  of  a  Physician. .  .2  v.  18mo. 


DS107.R96 

Palestine;  or,  The  Holy  land.  From  the 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1  1012  00066  6091 


